


Trade of Innocence

by regulusgal



Category: Skip Beat!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, F/M, Human Trafficking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-05-20 18:31:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 40,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6020554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regulusgal/pseuds/regulusgal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[AU/OOC WARNING] Illegal human trafficking and slavery are at large. A raid of a slave auction brings Kuon Hizri, a police detective assigned to abolish the human trafficking ring once and for all, face to face with an abused slave girl with mesmerizing golden eyes and no memory of her past. Yet, he feels that there is something more between the two of them...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: I do not own Skip-Beat!. I own only this story and the OCs added.

********The water puddle rippled as a heavy boot briskly stepped right onto its center. The footwear was quickly lifted, leaving the ripple to reverberate only due to the raindrops falling heavily on the dark city.

The owner of the boot swiftly and gracefully walked along the street, not bothering to pay attention to the people trying to take shelter under the canopies of the shops. He himself was drenched from head to toe; his shoulder-length blond hair was so wet the fringe stuck to his forehead and hindered his sight. His coat, now having the extra weight of absorbed water and clinging to his tall, well-built frame, did not help matters.

He cursed inwardly at himself for disregarding his mother's wise advice to bring an umbrella earlier before he had left his family's home. And that had occurred twelve hours ago.

His emerald green eyes caught sight of the shady bar he was heading to, and his footsteps quickened. He threw the doors open with an unneeded force, startling the other patrons who had made themselves comfortable in the warm establishment.

"Hizri!" He heard a familiar voice calling him. His head snapped up, causing raindrops to scatter around from his hair, and he immediately saw a bespectacled man waving at him from one of the tables around the corner of the room. This man was wearing a crisply tidy light brown suit, matching the color of his neatly styled hair.

The drenched man strode towards the table. "Good day to you too, Yashiro," he sarcastically greeted the other man when he noticed the mocking grin on his face. "It's nice of you to tell me to go here in such weather."

"No need to thank me, Kuon," Yukihito Yashiro replied smugly, straightening his glasses back up to perch on the bridge of his nose. "If there's anything to blame, just blame the weather forecast for not predicting this storm yesterday, and your stupidity for not bringing an umbrella before you set out to work even though the dark clouds have been there since this morning."

"Shut it," Kuon grumbled moodily. "Whatever I decide to have, it'll be on you."

The brunet just sighed. "Alright," he said. "It's on the office's tab, anyway. The Chief's the one paying."

A waiter approached them, gaining their attention. "Scotch on the rocks for me," Kuon ordered before turning back to his companion. "So, what is it that you want to talk about that can't be discussed in the office?"

"Jack Daniel's, thank you," Yashiro told the waiter. He then frowned at the blonde man before him. "Couldn't you wait until there's no one in our vicinity?"

"If you want complete privacy, you picked the completely wrong place, Yuki," Kuon told him in all honesty. "So?"

Yashiro pinched the bridge of his nose under his glasses frame. "The operation failed, Kuon."

The green-eyed man was stunned. "What?"

"I said," the brunette repeated slowly, stressing each word he was saying, "The operation failed. Miserably. When the squad broke into the room, the goods were already transported to other places God knows where, and the goons opened fire only seconds after that—"

"Hold on," Kuon halted his chattering. "Which operation are you talking about? The drug transaction or the—"

"The slave auction," Yashiro cut him off, a bit displeased.

"They opened fire?!" the taller man asked in disbelief. "That's nuts."

The bespectacled man grumbled under his breath, "That's what I told them. Worse thing I have to tell you, though: Koo- _san_ got shot. Not endangering his life!" He quickly added when Kuon almost shot up from his seat in shock and bolt out of the bar. "Only on the shoulder blade, but reality is, he won't be up to work again for how long it'll take him to fully recuperate again, or else your mother will kill him and the Chief. So, to make things short, Chief wants you to take over."

Kuon's mouth gaped open in surprise. "He wants _me_ to eliminate this human trafficking ring?"

"With all of your capabilities and as fast as your team can," Yashiro continued. "The ring's been here for too long, and it's become so large the area is no longer safe anymore. The Chief is especially worried about his granddaughter."

"Sweet little Maria," Kuon murmured. "I can sympathize with the old man now. I certainly don't want my mom to be in such a dangerous place as here. I wonder why Dad hasn't been successful in convincing her to relocate."

"With such stubbornness as your mother's, I don't think convincing her will be possible," Yashiro commented with soft, good-hearted chuckles. "You did say she loved this town, after all."

The blond let out a long sigh and leaned onto the back of his chair. "And why the secrecy?"

"The Chief believes the operation has been compromised, or so he told me himself. No one's aside from the police force should have known about it, and yet those people looked more than ready to intercept us. He thought that there might be a rat in our side."

Kuon sighed again remorsefully. "Why are the cases I've got never easy?"

* * *

It was the year 2XXX.

Almost a century in the past, a global-scale war had raged between countries, shifting the focus of global economy income and expenditure. Humanity was forced to live a hellish nightmare, where lands once lavished by the beauty of Mother Nature had turned into barren battlefields, and fresh foods and clean water had been difficult to get due to scarcity.

While so many had died in battles as brave soldiers, by the end of the war, the world had found itself populated with more people possible. Although usually this occurrence was seen as a glorious miracle, for a world that had still been recovering from the harshness of war, this had been only seen as a hindrance.

Not seeing any other alternative to get out of the monetary crisis, almost all countries had come with the same solution: making people from lower classes salable commodities.

Thus, the era of slavery and human trafficking had begun.

The practice had been going on for more than five decades — in which the slaves had been declared no longer a part of humanity, and the riches had gained the sense of superiority — until the appearance of some humane people that had voiced out the importance of human rights they once had adopted in the past.

The movement had been so large-scaled and united, that the newly-reorganized United Nations Organization — now named Global Union Organization, or GUO for short, had finally seen some sense and declared slavery and human trafficking as illegal in every state in every country in the world — regardless of whether there had been countries that had not been members of GUO.

But once the forbidden fruit was tasted, there was no more winning against temptation.

The riches, having experienced the comfort and luxury of having slaves, still placed a very high demand on slaves, and human trafficker saw this as the perfect opportunity to get more money.

As a result, there had been a lot of unsolved kidnappings, most of the kidnappeds being children and teenagers. The number of crimes was unbelievably high it was almost impossible, especially in Neopolis…

… The city first established by GUO in order to bring all people from every nations together to live in peace with each other.

* * *

It was not that Kuon did not like Neopolis; in fact, he loved the city brimming with happy memories of his childhood.

He just loathed how dangerous it had become, with people having high chances of being kidnapped anytime, anywhere.

Now, with the task of bringing down the human trafficking ring, he hoped he could help making the city he loved safer, even if only just a bit.

But then of course, life was not that idealistic.

"Good news is," Yashiro said with a grin, pulling Kuon harshly back to reality from his wandering thoughts, "I've been assigned into your team!"

The blond man groaned. "Great; just what I need."

"Oh come on!" his companion faked a childish pout. "Can't you look more excited?"

"Yay," Kuon said monotonously. "Who else is in?"

From out of nowhere, Yashiro produced a folder and let it slide across the vacant surface of the table. Kuon easily caught and opened it. "Well, whoever they are, they should be competent and trustworthy enough that they got to be handpicked by the Chief," the brunet said.

Reading the files, Kuon groaned again. "Kijima? Murasame? No offence, but you yourself know that they're not—"

"Serious about their work?" the other man snorted. "Yeah, I know as much. But they do have the necessary ability. And you can always recruit your own preferred personnel to add into the number, you know? Remember: with all of your capabilities."

Kuon smirked. "I might as well just do that."

* * *

Ricardo Ferrera, or Rick for short, was always known for his passionate love towards Neopolis — may be more than the Hizri father-son pair.

Born and raised in what used to be called New York, America, he had been living as a homeless thug before he had decided to try his luck for a better living in Neopolis.

And he surely didn't regret his decision.

Not long after his arrival at the city, he had been struggling for a short while until Koo Hizri had taken him under his wings as his own, and he had been living with the Hizris ever since. The older man had then kindly offered him the chance for a further education — he had been only a teenage boy of 12 that time — at the same school as Kuon's, and after that the two boys had been inseparable — of course except the time when Rick had had to go to primary high and Kuon had still been stuck in the forth grade of elementary school.

The school had also been where he had met the love of his life, Tina — and he, for a while, had had to endure Kuon's incessant teasing both at school and at home.

After he had graduated, he had decided to go to the police academy and pursue the same career as his father figure.

And now he was a well-known and respected detective in the force.

How he was so grateful of what the Hizris had done for him could not be described by words. So he swore himself that he would do anything he could when they were in need of help.

Rick, of course, had been enraged when he had heard of his benefactor being injured in a raid against the human traffickers, and he had expected to see a very enraged Kuon wanting a blood bath.

But instead, he had to stifle his laughter the whole time his blond foster little brother complained with definite passion about his new team.

Kuon would always be the same Kuon in front of him, after all, even after they had become adults.

"What's so funny?" Kuon asked, frowning at the older man.

Rick finally could not hold his laughter in any longer. The room they were in was instantly filled with the merry sound of him laughing. "You should've looked at your face, y'know?"

"Yeah, right, sure," the green-eyed man deadpanned. "So glad that I haven't lost my touch in amusing you."

After calming himself down, the man with hair a color of dark chocolate asked, "So, what do you need of me?"

"I want you to join my team and save me from frustrating myself to death."

"Oh, c'mon," Rick laughed. "Kijima and Murasame aren't really bad choices of team members. And Chief Takarada absolutely trusts them."

Kuon frowned. "Yes, but in a situation such as this, I need to have someone I can trust in my team. And I know you're more than competent enough."

"Well, what are you taking me for?" Rick rhetorically asked, feigning the feeling of being offended.

"Are you in?" Kuon asked, not bothering to answer the dark-haired man's question.

Rick shrugged casually. "Sure thing. I can always have the challenge."

"Now that you're finished with your very important private conversation," a new feminine voice spoke up, "Can you please bring your coffee and asses out of my office? I need to do my work here."

The two guys turned to see a tall blonde woman clad in a lab coat standing before them with a displeased face. One of her flats-covered feet was tapping impatiently against the floor.

Rick snickered. "Heya, Shimona."

The woman huffed in annoyance. "Seriously, guys, I need you two out, now. Just because we're family, it doesn't mean that you can use my office whenever you please."

"Calm down, Shimona, cousin," Kuon said nonchalantly. "I might be finished with Rick, but I still have something to do here."

Realization hit Shimona, and her frown deepened, narrowing her moss green eyes. "You want me in as well, don't you?"

"That's exactly my intention," her blond cousin replied with a grin. "You're in?"

"As much as I want to say yes," she sighed softly — her genuine regret clear in her voice, "I'll have to decline. I'm a member of the forensic department, and thus I can't restrict myself with one case—"

"Who said that you have to handle only this case?"

Shimona was taken aback. "What?"

"What I wanted to say is, I just need you to give anything related to this case your first priority. You can still stick to your other duties in Forensic Department," Kuon explained. "So, are you in?"

She sighed. "Bear in mind that Marina isn't like your Chief Takarada."

Her cousin gave her a cheeky grin she found annoying yet promising something good. "Oh don't worry, she's given us her utmost blessing and wished us good luck," he told her. "So?"

An excited glint danced in her green eyes. "Count me in."

* * *

A few days later, a tip reached the police that another slave auction would be held at an old warehouse in the harbor area.

Of course, Kuon and Rick had been skeptical at first, but as the others in the team — Yashiro, Kijima, and Murasame — had been confident that this was a real deal instead of a mere hoax, the two detectives decided to go along and form a plan—

— Which was pretty simple. Kijima and Murasame, along with Rick — just to give Kuon a peace of mind — would do the stake out around the area, and once the auction was about to begin, Kuon and Yashiro would go in as potential buyers.

So here Kuon was, safely disguised in an elaborately expensive suit, dark brown wig, and brown contact lenses — thanks to the police department's special make-up artist, Jelly Woods — with Yashiro acting as his attendant.

They confidently, but warily, walked towards the warehouse, only to be stopped by two burly bouncers.

"ID, please," one of them said gruffly.

While Yashiro was shaking inwardly, Kuon calmly produced a wallet — deliberately showing the many credit cards and cash in it — and gave them a fake ID card. The brunette swore that if Kuon had not chosen to be a police detective, he could have made a living as a successful actor.

The giant of a bouncer examined the ID, narrowing his eyes at it. He glanced repetitively between the card and Kuon, comparing the face with the one in the picture. "Name?"

"Ren Tsuruga," Kuon said with a stoic face, not letting anything to show on his face.

"And this guy here?" the bouncer snapped his head towards Yashiro.

"My assistant." _I'm not actually lying, am I?_ The disguised blonde thought, cringing inwardly as he felt the displeased glare Yashiro was sending him.

The bouncers looked at each other, and they moved from their place against the walls towards the two police undercover, groping their torsos and limbs as well as checking their pocket. At that moment, Kuon was impressed by the security of the auction, and he felt it very ironic.

"What's this?" the bouncer asked, pointing at the earpiece in Kuon's left ear.

"Hearing aid," the currently dark-haired man answered. "I had an accident with fireworks when I was little." _And this is not exactly a lie either; I did have an accident with fireworks, thanks to Rick and his stupid prank._

The burly man nodded in understanding. He then turned to his companion and said, "He's clear. How about yours?"

"Clear."

"Please come in," the bouncer told Kuon and Yashiro. "Welcome, Mr. Tsuruga and his assistant."

Yashiro sneered inwardly, completely annoyed by the way the bouncer called him. _Am I not important?_ he thought in irritation.

"How long is it until the auction begins?" Kuon asked enquiringly.

"Ten minutes, give or take."

"Can I use the restroom?" he asked, giving the bouncers a gentlemanly smile.

"Uh," the burly man stammered. "Sure. Go straight on, then turn at the first left."

After giving them his thanks, Kuon and Yashiro walked into the spacious interior of the warehouse, heading towards the directions of the restroom. Once they made sure they were completely alone, the blonde murmured into the small microphone on his collar button, "Rick, we're inside."

" _Okay_ ," the reply came with some statics. " _Proceed, and give us the go whenever you're ready._ "

* * *

Behind the still closed stage, a girl with short, unkempt hair was thrown to the floor harshly. Blood started to trickle down from her forehead, and she whimpered in pain.

Before her, a very large man stood menacingly, a whip in his hand. Two girls with black hair huddled together near them, trembling in fright.

"You dared speaking of freedom, huh?" he growled, whipping the short-haired girl with thunderous snaps. "You piece of garbage! Worthless!"

He shouted a lot more things, but the girl could no longer hear him, as her ears rang with pain. Apparently, the whip hit the side of her head, right on the ear.

"You know what?" he said. "You want your freedom so bad; then die for it."

With that, the whip was swung once again with unforgiving, killing intent.

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen," a man that served as the master of ceremony began. "Welcome to the biggest slave auction this year! Tonight, we have a wide range of selection to choose from — strong labor slaves, beautiful sex slaves, mature child-bearing slaves…"

"It's no hoax," Kuon whispered into the tiny microphone. "Get the squad in from the window I opened on the west side of the warehouse. Keep as discreet as possible; we still have the element of surprise—"

"Hold on!" Yashiro hissed. "It's the mayor's son!"

The disguised blonde turned to the direction his companion was pointing at with a scowl plastered on his face. "What?!"

Sure enough, he quickly spotted Shotaro Fuwa, the only son of Neopolis' mayor of ten years. With his polished appearance, his suit haughty as ever, and his proud smirk on his face, he eyed everyone in the room, challenging them to overpower his bid.

In the end, no one did, and shortly after, an almost naked, very voluptuous, long black-haired trembling girl was brought before him.

"Shit," Yashiro cursed under his breath. "If we charge now, this can raise up a scandal."

"Who cares about scandal?" Kuon growled lowly under his breath. "That idiot brat's just too stupid for his own good. Oh, by the way, did I miss something?"

Yashiro frowned at him for not paying attention to the auction. "Including the girl bought by Fuwa- _san_ , two girls are sold already."

" _Hizri, we're ready at the door_ ," a voice Kuon recognized as Murasame's told him.

" _Ready to raid the backstage here, Kuon_ ," Rick soon followed after. " _As I said; just give us the go._ "

"Then go!"

The doors flung open and the police flooded into the room, shocking the guests. "FREEZE!"

* * *

"Wow," Shimona commented almost monotonously, her green orbs eyeing the lot of slaves strutting towards the many ambulances present. "This sure is a great catch."

"We'll take that as a compliment," Rick commented casually from his seat on the railing of the pier. He nudged the other blond present with them with a satisfied grin. "Right, Kuon?"

The said man snapped out of his wandering thoughts. "Uh," he mumbled unsurely. "Yeah, right."

Shimona raised an eyebrow in confusion at her cousin, before turning her focus back to the secured slaves. "I'd better attend to them. You know, now I'm not even sure whether I'm a mere medical examiner working for the police or a general practitioner for a hospital."

"You can do both," Rick supplied cheerfully, only to receive a glare from the medical examiner.

After Shimona had strode away from them to bark orders to her subordinates, the dark-skinned man turned to his adopted brother. "You don't look fine, buddy," he commented.

Kuon sighed. "I don't know, Rick," he said. "I just have the feeling that this hasn't ended here."

"Of course it hasn't ended!" Rick replied. "The leader escaped, and we only got the little goons in our net. We still have a lot of work to do, man." He stood up and dusted the dirt on the back of his jeans. "Now get your ass up and do the report for the Chief about today!"

And Rick walked away, leaving Kuon with his uncomfortable feelings.

Moments later, a nervous young girl with medium-length, dirty black hair scurried over to the blond man, gaining his attention. From her appearance, it was clear to him that this girl was among the slaves secured from the auction.

"You-you are with the police, r-right?" she asked, stuttering due to her fright.

Taking pity to the girl, Kuon graced her with a gentle smile. "I am. Is something wrong?"

Tears brimmed on the corner of her eyes. "T-there is someone else," she said, almost crying. "She was beaten up and thrown outside before the auction. She's my friend, please save her!"

Kuon's response was immediate. With a frown, he stood up quickly and jogged towards the back entrance of the warehouse, only to find nothing on the deserted alley except for a few police.

"Did you see anyone here?" he asked them.

The officers looked at each other in confusion before answering the green-eyed detective. "No, Sir."

Frowning deeper, Kuon scanned the area and spotted a ridiculously large dumpster. His emerald eyes widened when he saw trails of not-so-fresh blood near the base of the bin. He ran towards the big, heavy metal dumpster, and opened the lid.

What he saw made him cursing himself for not raiding the place earlier than his plan.

In the bin, piled with filthy trash, was a bloodied body of a girl. Crimson flowed from various injuries on her body, and she was so beaten up that Kuon could not make her face out. She was so dirty and bloody that if not for the bright chestnut hair of hers, he was sure he would not have recognized her among the trash.

Remembering the words of the black-haired girl, Kuon knew that there might still be the possibility of this bloodied girl to still be alive. Carefully so that he would not topple over into the trash crate, he reached for her wrist.

Although it was very faint, there was a pulse, and he could feel her shallow, painful breathing.

This unknown girl was already dying.

"SHIMONA!" he yelled urgently, startling the other officers around him. "I NEED YOU OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!"


	2. Chapter 2

It was all a blur for Kuon.

Shimona had quickly come to his side the moment he had shouted for her, bringing with her a couple of MEs from her team. She had been throwing him a questioning scowl, but her green eyes had widened the instant she had seen the girl.

Kuon knew his cousin had barked more orders to her subordinates, but he could not figure what she had been yelling about. It was as if he was trapped in a trance, and it took a slap across his cheek from Rick to bring him back into reality.

When he finally managed to gather all his bearings, Rick and he were already standing in front of the surgery room in Central Hospital, the most advanced medical institution in Neopolis. Shimona was nowhere in sight, and Kuon quickly realized that she had managed to convince the surgeon in duty to let her in to ensure that the unknown, dying girl was properly taken care of according to the standard procedures.

"It's unusual for you to be this listless," Rick commented, his worry over his best friend evident in his voice. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Kuon mumbled in reply. "I'm good. I was just surprised, that's all. To think that someone could do such things to a defenseless girl…"

Rick did not say anything after Kuon trailed off. As a man of justice, especially for women and children, such abuse was deemed unforgivable. How Rick wanted to go out there, hunt the girl's tormentor and make him pay…

The dark-haired man shook his head to clear his mind. He put his hand on Kuon's shoulder and pushed him forward gently. "C'mon, we might as well get back to headquarters and question that girl. We might get more information from her about this poor Jane Doe."

As they walked along the hospital's corridor, the older man made a small comment. "You might want to wash that dye off your hair. As much as it looks unbelievably good on you, Julie surely will have a heart attack when she sees you with brown head."

* * *

"Her vitals are dropping fast…"

"Any news from the blood bank?"

"They're short on AB — still waiting to see if there's any at the other branch…"

It did not sound good at all for Shimona, who at the moment was standing at the side, allowing the ER staffs to work on the chestnut-haired girl. From what the blonde forensic technician had observed, the girl had been beaten hours ago, and had been losing a lot of blood in the process. If she did not get transfusion soon…

"The anesthetic's set in!"

"Good!" exclaim Satoshi Takagi, the surgeon on duty. "Sudo, I want you to keep monitoring her vitals. Keyes, what was your diagnosis?"

"Major trauma on the head, especially on her left temple and ear," Shimona answered calmly, although deep down, she was as stressed as the surgeon. "From the state of her attire, there might be some deep lacerations on the back and chest. We're still not sure whether they reached the spinal cord or the lung and heart muscles; maybe you'd want to check those first."

Takagi nodded in agreement as his dark eyes scanned the girl laid on the surgery table before him with critical eyes. Although Shimona was not on close terms with the older medic, she knew she could always trust his long experience in the field. "Makino, hand me the scalpel. Prepare the suture just in case—"

"Takagi- _sensei_ ," the assistant surgeon next to him gasped. She held the dying girl's ripped, bloody top in her hands, revealing the badly beaten chest.

Frowning, the surgeon looked at the chest, wondering what surprised his assistant so much. And suddenly, everything in the operation theater came to a standstill.

Shimona, of course, noticed the suddenly awkward atmosphere. "Is anything wrong, Takagi- _sensei_?"

No one said anything, until the woman named Sudo exclaimed through her surgical mask. "We're losing the pulse, Takagi- _sensei_!"

Takagi was silent for a while after that, and then mumbled, "Maybe we don't really have to do anything, after all."

" _What?_ " Shimona hissed, looking at the older medic as if he had lost his mind.

Silently, Takagi shifted, allowing Shimona to have a look at what had made everything changed in an instant.

Right on the middle of the girl's chest, just above the valley of her breasts, there was a mark shaped like three-eyed chain. The surrounding scar tissues were clear evidence of the mark having been burned onto the skin a long time ago.

The symbol of a slave.

"This girl's a slave, Keyes," Takagi mumbled lowly. "In my opinion, it's not worth it to save a slave—"

The other medics in the room were more than surprised to suddenly found the head surgeon being yanked up at his collar by a very enraged woman whose stature was smaller than his.

Shimona glared at the older man, her forest green eyes glinting dangerously feral in a no-nonsense manner. "I don't care if she's a slave, nor about your _petty, unprofessional_ opinion," she spat angrily at Takagi. "In case you haven't noticed, she's a human being, and might be a very important witness to a case. Now, I want her _alive and well_ , or I'll be _more than happy_ to have _your head_ on the silver platter, Takagi- _sensei_. And I'm not kidding around. _You got me?_ "

Everything was eerily silent, until Takagi yelled, "Get me the external defibrillator!"

* * *

"So, Chiori- _chan_ — can I call you that?" Kijima asked goofily with a wide, friendly smile at a dark-haired young girl — the same one that had told Kuon about the dying girl.

At the side, Kuon scoffed disapprovingly, his now golden blonde hair soaking wet from having been washed just minutes before. Leave it to Kijima to flirt with the witness in questioning. The girl — Chiori — however, only nodded shyly.

"Okay, Chiori-chan, do you by any chance know who the big boss of today's auction is?" Kijima asked again.

"Uh, no," Chiori answered in a small voice. "Just a burly man called Gin, that's all. The one with the whip."

 _Might as well be a code name, or a false name_ , Kuon thought. "Did he speak to anyone by phone?"

The girl shook her head. "No, no phone calls at all."

The Hizri nodded in understanding. "Can you tell us more about the girl you asked us to save?"

He was startled to see Chiori's expression brighten a bit. "She's really kind," she said excitedly. "Today's the first time I've seen her, though. We were contained in a huge trailer at what supposedly is Gin's house, and before we were brought to…" She glanced up at Kuon and Kijima uncomfortably, and seeing the blonde nodding with a friendly small smile, she continued, "The trailer was suddenly opened, and Gin dragged in some other girls, among them was her."

"And when you said that she was kind, that's because…" Kijima trailed off, beckoning Chiori to continue where he left off.

"Because she offered me her bread, knowing that I was still hungry. Our ration was very meager, but she said she had enough already and encouraged me to finish hers," the small-statured girl supplied immediately.

The two detectives' smiles grew at her genuinely happy expression. "She sure is a good person," Kijima commented kindheartedly.

Chiori's face suddenly grew somber. "To think that she got beaten just because she told me that we would someday be free…" She sobbed. "Is she okay?"

"At the moment, we can't say anything," Kuon mumbled sympathetically. "The medics are doing everything they can to save her — which reminds me, what's her name?"

The girl widened her brown eyes when realization came to her. "I don't know," she gasped. "She never mentioned it even once. And she did say that she hated what the 'Daddy' gave her — that the name wasn't what belonged to her. But," she paused to rummage through her pockets, "she did give me this, and I know that this is really precious to her."

Chiori opened her palm to show Kuon and Kijima a small chunk of stone the size of half her fist. The light from the lamp hanging on the ceiling made the surface of the rock sparkle a beautiful gradient of blue, and Kuon could not help but finding the color distantly familiar.

"Before Gin beat her up, she gave me this stone," Chiori explained. "She said that it was a pity that we couldn't get any light, because when this stone was brought to meet the sunlight, it could wipe out our sadness — that's what she said."

_**"Just now, that was magic."** _

Kuon blinked repeatedly, trying to make out the sudden distant voice he had heard. What was that? When he came to, he found Kijima peering at him in concern.

"Hizri," the other detective called. "You okay?"

The emerald-eyed man blinked more, before nodding and mumbling, "Uh, yeah, I'm fine." He then glanced up at Chiori again and offered his hand. "I can hold onto that and give it to your friend when she regains consciousness. Will that be okay?" he asked.

Chiori nodded immediately. "Of course," she said, handing him the small stone.

Even the weight of the rock and the feel of it in his hand seemed familiar to him. Absentmindedly, he brought the stone up to his eye level, staring through the light at it. He sucked in a surprised breath when a flash of purple showed abruptly.

_**"When the color changes, it feels like it takes away your sadness, right? With this magic, you won't be sad anymore, even if we're not with each other."** _

_**"But Kuon, I still don't want to go!" a voice of a little girl cried pitifully.** _

"…ri! HIZRI!"

Kuon snapped out of the déjà vu. Kijima was face to face with him, snapping his fingers in front of him, his face sporting a worried frown. "Seriously, you alright?" the shorter man asked.

"I'm okay," Kuon mumbled with unease. _I really want to ask that myself. Am I okay? What was that?_

"You know what," Kijima suddenly said. "Just go home for today, Hizri. Go home and rest. You've earned it."

"Yeah," the blonde replied, rubbing the back of his neck instinctively. "I might just do that."

* * *

"How's Jane Doe?" Rick asked casually as he, Kuon, and Shimona lounged around at the Hizris' living room.

Shimona sneered in disgust. "I couldn't believe that old man!" she snapped. "He almost killed her willingly! I swear that the next time I meet that old fart, I'm going to—"

"Shimona Keyes!" a voice they all recognized as that of Juliena Hizri, Kuon's mother, hollered from somewhere upstairs. "Watch your language, young lady! Your father raised you better!"

Shimona rolled her eyes and muttered in monotone, "Will do, Auntie."

Rick snickered. " _Yeah, Shimona, watch your language_ ," he attempted to mimic Juliena — albeit unsuccessfully, resulting in his voice sounding like a transvestite with snotty high-pitch — only for the woman to glare murderously at him.

"So what about the surgeon almost killing Jane Doe?" Kuon butted in, not wanting to get caught in the usual quarrel between his family members.

"She's branded a slave," Shimona sighed. "And that asshole Takagi refused to perform further treatment, until I had a talk with him. The girl's vitals were so terribly low by then, and they had to use defibrillators to resuscitate her. And then the blood transfusion came so late… _I don't know_! I'd say that it was a gracious miracle that we saved her."

"So is she stable?" Rick asked enquiringly.

"Oh, she is," Shimona answered immediately. "But judging from how the emergency treatment was halted, and that they had to treat the lacerations first to ensure that the lungs, heart, and spinal cord were okay, rather than treating the head trauma first… She will be very lucky if she manages to survive with little complications."

Kuon frowned. "Complications, such as?"

"The usual drama," she deadpanned. "Concussions, amnesia, impaired nerve functions… Oh, and for a slave, everything about her just screams weird."

"Weird?" Rick repeated questioningly. "What's weird, aside that she was found bloody as hell in a dumpster?"

"For a start," Shimona straightened her posture, getting serious, "there was no evidence of previous injury found on her body, aside from the slave brand. And her hair is dyed. Aren't they unusual for a slave?"

Kuon hummed in agreement. "I've never known a slave owner who would treat his slave so generously as to dye her hair," he commented. "Anything else?"

"No signs of malnutrition, although I have to admit that her body all in all is a bit underdeveloped for a girl between 15 and 18 of age," Shimona let out a small grin before frowning again. "And no signs of previous sexual abuse, at all."

Rick gaped. "Are you saying that she's a _virgin_?!"

"That's what I'm saying. Uncommon, isn't it?" the forensic technician smirked. "Especially for a female slave. This might lead to somewhere, Kuon."

The blonde detective had to agree with the point made.

"So? Got anything of her identity yet?" Shimona asked casually. "We can't exactly call her Jane Doe forever."

This time, Rick answered for Kuon. "Nope, nothing, _nada_ ," he said with a shake of his head and a shrug of his broad shoulders. "Jane Doe apparently doesn't like giving her name to other people."

"But she had this with her," Kuon continued, rummaging his pockets for the stone. When he found it, he let Shimona see it. "You recognize what this is?"

She reached for the stone and hummed an unrecognizable note as she observed the blue rock. "You said that Jane Doe had this with her?" she asked Kuon, earning a nod. Her frown grew deeper before saying, "I'm adding this to the list of weird things about our dear Jane Doe."

"And why is that?" Rick asked.

"Looking at the purplish hue on the clear deep blue, and some professionally cut edges, this rock is most likely a chunk of a Tanzanite cut for a certain type of jewelries," Shimona explained. "And as you know, Tanzanite is pretty rare."

The older man's widened his eyes as he put two and two together. "There's no way a slave can have such a rare gemstone," he breathed out.

"Did someone mention tanzanite?" a voice startled them. When they turned around, they were face to face with a tall blonde woman almost identical to Kuon and Shimona, with childlike curiosity gleaming in her green eyes. "It's been so long since anybody last mentioned that beautiful rarity!"

"Mom," Kuon mumbled, in the progress of calming himself down. "Don't just surprise us like that!"

Juliena — or Julie, for short — pouted. She lifted her hand and mimicked someone knocking the door in the air. "Knock, knock. I just want to tell you that dinner's ready."

The trio's faces blanched instantly. "Mom," her son asked in fear. "Did you cook?"

"Who else is going to do it, anyway?" Julie retorted back in a matter-of-fact way. "As you know, your dad's still in hospital, and both you and Shimona can't cook even to save your lives. Now, let's eat while everything's still hot."

"Now that reminds me," Rick said with a nervous grin as he stood up from the couch, ready to sprint out of the house with all his might, "Tina's waiting for me with dinner at home. I think I should go now. Don't want to make her wait any longer, now, do I?"

The Hizri matriarch pouted more. "Aww," she whined. "Well, that can't be helped. Maybe next time."

"Actually," Shimona interjected into the conversation, her smile as nervous as Rick's, "I just remembered that Marina needed me at the headquarters, Aunt Julie. I think I'll have to just have my dinner over there."

"Shimona Keyes!" Julie hollered in annoyance. "Don't you dare skip dinner just because there's work for you—"

"I swear I'll have dinner!" the medical examiner quickly exclaimed, grabbing her coat. "I'll see you guys later."

And with that, both Rick and Shimona were out of the house, leaving Kuon gulping in anxiety as Julie stared at him.

"You're not skipping dinner like usual, right, Kuon?" she asked with a sweetly venomous smile and tone.

What else could Kuon do other than just agree with his mother?

* * *

Gin shuddered in pure fear as he kneeled facing a man dressed in a thick fur coat. The said man slouched on a loveseat, a half-full wine flute in his hand.

He eyed Gin with cold, unemotional eyes the color of dried blood. "Gin," he called with a deep, dangerous, velvety baritone.

"I swear I didn't know, Boss!" Gin sputtered. "If I had known that she's yours, I wouldn't—"

"Let's recap what happened," the man Gin called Boss continued, blatantly ignoring the big man's attempt to explain himself. "Not only the auction got raided, and most of our goods were seized by the cops, you got my precious one caught up in the confusion. Is that all?"

Gin gulped audibly, making Boss raised one sculpted eyebrow. "There's more to it, isn't it?" the ruby-eyed man said. "Did you do something to my precious one, Gin?"

"I would never—"

"So you did," Boss commented, closing his eyes. He waved one hand, and instantly, two men stood behind Gin. "Dispose this trash," he sighed.

As a trashing Gin was dragged out of the room to his doom, Boss leaned his head so that he faced the dark ceiling.

"Where are you, my precious one?"

* * *

"I believe congratulation is in order, Hizri- _kun_ ," a tall, old man with jet black, long curly hair and a moustache said in a fatherly baritone. "Keep up the good work."

"Certainly, Chief Takarada," Kuon replied as he looked straight at the other man. "And thank you. It wouldn't be possible without the team you've assembled for me in the first place."

Lory Takarada smiled at him from his seat behind the heavy mahogany desk. "Have you visited your father, Kuon? I'm sure he's lonely without his family around."

"I haven't," the younger man honestly answered. "Well, I haven't been able to make some time to do so. But Mom's been there, and she said he was already eager to be back to work."

Lory laughed loudly in amusement. "Just as expected from Koo."

Kuon smiled back at the chief of police department. "Yes, he's indeed stubborn beyond believe."

"Now," the raven-haired man straightened up. "The report, please."

"The raid was conducted on Wednesday, November 27, year 2XXX, at 2100. The location was a warehouse in the harbor area of the town. The force managed to recover 40 people meant to be auctioned, but the perpetrators escaped," the blonde detective began in a matter-of-fact tone. "Among the guests, Shotaro Fuwa was located. He purchased a slave girl right before the raid commenced."

Lory slouched down, his fingers pinching the bridge of the nose out of frustration. "This can make everything difficult," he said. "Now we're not sure that the mayor is on our side in this. Continue."

"After the raid, a girl by the name of Chiori informed me personally about a girl abused by one of the pimp." Kuon paused to clear his throat. "This girl was found dying in a dumpster located near the back door of the warehouse. At the moment, as Keyes from the Forensic Department informed me, she was in stable condition and is still receiving around the clock treatment at Central Hospital. The complete report about her from the forensic department has already been given to you."

The chief superintendent nodded and skimmed through the rather thick report. He immediately frowned. "This is indeed not ordinary."

"Keyes also told me that," Kuon added. "We still haven't found any lead on her identity, but from the things we've noticed so far, this girl may be more that what she seems to be."

Lory hummed in thought before looking up back at Kuon. "I want you and your squad to keep a close eye on her," he commanded. "Once she's conscious and declared to be well enough to leave the hospital, if her identity is still unclear, I want you to let her stay at your house."

Kuon was startled. "What?" he asked in surprise. "But, Chief—"

"If she's indeed more that what she seems, Kuon, I think it will be safer for her to be near a police officer than to be in a social shelter," Lory explained. "And I want you to make daily report about her progress."

"Yes, Chief," the younger man replied after a few seconds of hesitation.

Lory sighed. "Now, about you spotting Shotaro Fuwa at the auction and buying a slave, do you have any solid proof on that?"

"Yashiro was with me," Kuon answered. "He can testify for you. And I believe he took some candid pictures of the auction. He might've taken one of the idiot."

"It should be enough proof for the mayor, if he indeed got one," the man with mustache muttered. "And I thought by assigning you to this case, everything would be easier. Kuon, you do have a knack on cutting my life shorter."


	3. Chapter 3

"It's not tanzanite?" Shimona gaped in surprise.

A woman in her 40s was sitting at her work desk. Her long black hair was pulled back into a loose bun at the back of her head, highlighting her aristocratic jaw line and high cheekbones. Her dark chocolate-colored eyes sparkled with mild amusement as she giggled at the blonde's expression. On her lab coat, a name tag with 'Marina Akatoki' written on it was pinned at the breast pocket.

Marina shook her head after she had managed to contain her mirth. "Unfortunately not, Darling," she confirmed, once again looking at the chunk of blue stone Shimona had shown her for second opinion. "Yes, the blue and purple hues make us assume that it's tanzanite at first glance, but judging from the hardness, I'm confident that this is a raw iolite, which was more commonly found than tanzanite."

Something in Marina's words piqued Shimona's interest. "Was?" she questioned her boss.

"Was," the older woman repeated. "They used to be mined in various countries and used as cheap substitute for blue sapphires in jewelries. Even people from the middle economy class could afford it. But the mining has ceased for years, if my memory serves me well enough."

"Even people from the middle class…" Shimona mumbled. "So you think that it's not uncommon to find our Jane Doe having this iolite stone."

"No — in that regards, your opinion is still correct." Marina frowned. "Even if her owner was that kind to her, I don't think she would be allowed to have such gemstone. The price of an iolite is now over $500; too much to be given to a mere slave, don't you think?"

Shimona fingered her chin — a habit she usually did when deep in thought. "What if this stone was her possession from her life before she became a slave?"

"Maybe," Marina commented. "But the possibility is slim; you know firsthand what those horrible people do during reaping."

Yes, Shimona knew more than she liked to. After someone was reaped — obtained to be sold around the human trafficking network, no matter what the method was — the traffickers would strip them off their possessions, and that meant everything without exception. There was no way that they would miss a gemstone. Unless…

"When exactly did iolite become rare?" she asked.

Marina hummed in consideration. "Hmm… 7 years ago, give or take."

"What if," the younger woman speculated, "she had been with her owner _before_ iolite became rare? If iolite was a cheap and insignificant gem at that time, the possibility of her being allowed to still have it with her will be high. And if she was reaped before 7 years ago, the possibility is high that her owner took pity of her as a child and allowed her to have that insignificant stone — maybe to make her stop crying."

"A plausible theory," Marina nodded. "But there's also a probability that her owner is a downright pedophile."

Shimona snickered at how Marina had bluntly said it.

"What?" the head forensic scientist asked in puzzlement. "It's possible, isn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah," Shimona dismissed what she found rather cute of her boss. "Now, leaving that aside, our main problem is Jane Doe's identity. Among the other 'goods' our dear detectives managed to secure, there's no one who knows her name."

"And it'll be a bit difficult to trace her identity using the iolite stone, more so if your theory's proven to be correct," Marina added. "How about we do DNA test?"

"I was thinking about it," Shimona groaned. "But when I took her status as a slave into consideration, I got discouraged from doing so. You know that slaves aren't registered in the DNA database."

Marina smirked. "Then why don't we bet on it?"

* * *

Although he was nearing his 50s and still recovering from his recent injuries, Koo Hizri was still as fit as his son — scratch that; as _stubborn_ as his son. That was why Kuon was not that surprised to see a nurse grumbling in annoyance when she showed herself out of the injured man's room.

"What did you do this time, Dad?" he asked, completely amused by his father's possible antics.

The man with reddish brown hair grinned jovially. "Hey there, champ!" he said, gesturing for Kuon to sit close to his bed. "And here I thought I wouldn't see you until I get out of this hellhole."

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad," Kuon mumbled with a roll of his eyes.

"Are you kidding?" Koo grumbled, before starting to mimic who Kuon assumed was the nurse. " _Koo-san! I've told you several times to not get out of bed without assistance! Koo-san! Who permitted you to get chips from the cafeteria? Koo-san! Koo-san!_ I'm sick of it already!"

His son could only laugh. "Seriously, Dad, you're the best actor I can ever find in this world."

"The one and only," Koo added smugly. "You know what I'm missing? Being out in the field, hunting scum. I heard from Lory that you managed to raid an auction?"

"News sure spread fast," Kuon commented. "It was only last night."

The older man shrugged. "You know Lory. When he's happy, he's going to quickly spread it around the world." He then grasped one of Kuon's hands with his own. "I'm proud of you, Son," he said with a low voice, his pride of his son evident in his eyes. "So, care to tell this old man more about your successful raid?"

"Now, don't act as if you're old already," the younger Hizri grumbled with a roll of his eyes.

Koo laughed heartily. "Let me tell you, Son, when you're almost as old as me, you'll see what I mean. Okay, I'm all ears now."

Kuon sighed at his father's excited anticipation — he swore he could see a big puppy looking at him with doe eyes. So he began telling Koo about how they got a tip from someone anonymous, how he had to disguised himself as 'Ren Tsuruga' with Yashiro as his 'assistant' — he included the part where Yashiro had seemed displeased about how the security had always referred to him as 'Ren Tsuruga's assistant' — and also how he had opened a window in the washroom to let Rick and the rest of the squad in.

"Clever," Koo commented, bobbing his head in approval. "But there's something from your story that's been bugging me for a while. You said that the security at the entrance was uptight, right?"

"So tight that it impressed me to no end," Kuon confirmed. "Something wrong with that?"

"No, that was to be expected," Koo replied. "What I think is uncanny is the part where you opened the window. In the past raids that I've been in, I noticed that they always barricaded all possible escape route. Why didn't they do it this time?"

Kuon shrugged. "Maybe they're confident that nobody's going to escape?"

Koo hummed in a low voice. "That's possible. What else?"

"Other than we spotted Shotaro Fuwa in the auction?" Kuon retorted. "We found a dying Jane Doe in a dumpster. From what Shimona told me, she might be 'goods', too."

He was surprised to find his father growling menacingly. "Those trash," he snarled. "They don't even deserve living in this world. Kuon, promise me that you'll do anything to bring them down, alright? And I'll do my best to get out of this hell hole as soon as possible and assist you."

"Dad, you're in this 'hell hole' for your own good," Kuon muttered. "Imagine what would happen if you showed up at home without those nasty bullets taken out of you — Mom would have her field day scolding you until you died of blood lost. We can't lose you now, Old Man."

"And just now you told me to not act like an old man," Koo grumbled, pouting childishly. "What else happened while I'm _here_?" He spat the last word with pure disgust.

The rest of the visit was spent talking about other menial things, like how Kuon had almost gagged after the first spoon of Julie's dinner last night. Koo laughed uncontrollably loud at that — that was until Kuon asked him one thing he had never expected to be discussed in such moment. "Dad, you've never exactly told me why you're so hell-bent on bringing down the human trafficking rings."

Koo's expression became stiff. He seemed to mull over his answer for some time — sometimes glancing at Kuon warily — before he said with a light shrug, "Well, we can't exactly allow them to roam free in this town, can we?"

Even Kuon knew that his father was hiding something from him.

* * *

Lory had been friends with Harufumi Fuwa for years, starting from the moment the latter asked the former to support him in the election for the mayor's seat. Harufumi had been a God-loving, hardworking man that would always prioritize the wellbeing of Neopolis and citizens over his own benefits. He also loved his little family — made up of his wife and son — very much, and was a big supporter of human trafficking abolishment, traits that were exactly the same as the police chief superintendent's.

Although he had come from a family that supports slavery, Harufumi had grown to loathe the concept of treating other people as mere possession. More so when he had fallen in love with Yayoi, a female slave owned by his father. In the end, the two had eloped, and even now, Harufumi was still madly in love with Yayoi and would do anything to free others who suffered the same fate that had befallen Yayoi before they had met.

That was why Lory did not really want to believe what Kuon had informed him this morning. How could the son of such man as Harufumi be at a slave auction, purchasing a slave on top of that?

He knocked at the door in front of him, and after he heard a tired grunt of 'Come in', he opened the door and entered the room.

Harufumi looked much older than when Lory had last met him, considering he was supposed to be only in his 40s. The mayor's hair, which Lory remembered had once had a healthy black sheen, was instead oily and unkempt. There were bags under his eyes, as if the man had not slept for a few days.

Harufumi just looked plain horrible.

"Lory, my friend," the younger man gave Lory a small, tired smile. "It's been quite a long time! To what do I owe this visit?"

Lory returned the smile with a sincere sympathy. "To be honest, Fuwa- _kun_ , you look like crap."

Harufumi laughed heartily. "I'll take that as a compliment. Some people told me that I looked like zombies, which I personally think is worse than being a crap. At least being a crap means that I don't get to crave for brains. Sit down! Don't just stand there! How can I help you?"

"You won't like it, Fuwa- _kun_ ," Lory sighed, taking a seat facing the mayor. "I received very unpleasant information this morning. Have you heard about the raid last night?"

"Ready to be published in the evening newspapers, the last time I heard," Harufumi replied quickly. "It was that special team you boasted before, wasn't it? You weren't kidding when you said that they were the best." He slouched backwards into the back of his seat, trying to relax himself.

Lory frowned at that. "Something wrong, Fuwa- _kun_? When I said that you looked like crap, I wasn't trying to humor you."

Harufumi sighed. "I don't know how to have my priorities straight anymore, Lory," he mumbled. "With the security of Neopolis being in this state, I know that I have to do everything in my power to help, but at the same time both my wife and son need me." He paused for a moment, gathering the courage to admit something that even he himself did not want to. "My family's falling apart, Lory, and I don't know what I should do."

"I know this will be difficult for you to accept, Fuwa- _kun_ , but I won't beat around the bush," Lory said steadily, looking straight into Harufumi's eyes. "My trusted sources reported your son being present in the slave auction last night, purchasing a female slave right before the raid was commenced."

Through Harufumi's shocked, widened eyes, Lory could see that his friend's heart was breaking into pieces. The younger man sighed with resignation in his expression as he mumbled a simple, heart-broken 'Thank you'.

It was silent for a while in the mayor's office, before Harufumi choked, "Where and what did I do wrong that everything turns out like this?"

"You've done everything you possibly can, Fuwa- _kun_ ," Lory answered with a low voice. "People are faced with choices, and in your case, nobody can say that you've made the wrong choice at some point. Besides, every single thing in our lives has great meaning behind it, and everything leads to our grand happiness in the end, as long as we have faith. Aren't you the one who often told me that?

"And you're only a mere human. We as humans have our limitations. And because of that, we have others to help us." The chief superintendent stood up, walked around the desk to stand next to the mayor and give the other man's shoulder a firm pat. "You know that I will always lend you a hand, my friend."

Harufumi lifted his head to look at Lory, and a small, genuine smile formed on his face.

* * *

Hiroaki Ogata had been long known as the successor of a very important legacy.

His father, Hirotaka Ogata, had been one amongst many of the Parliament members to push through the Act of Human Rights back into its rightful place and make sure that human trafficking was completely banned across the globe.

So Hiroaki, who had followed his father's footsteps and become a member of the Parliament years after Hirotaka's retirement and a long period of relentless work, wanted to carry the legacy on and accomplish what his father had not been able to: completely freeing all people unfortunate enough to get caught in slavery.

But so far, no one in the Parliament was on his side.

"You do realize that with slave owners allowed to retain their slaves, slavery won't be completely abolished, don't you?" the silver-haired man yelled in irritation towards the other Parliament members during one of their meetings.

"Ogata- _kun_ , look at it this way," Kazutoyo Anna, another fellow member, said in a fatherly, wise tone. Hiroaki, however, knew that behind that sweet tone, that man was blatantly mocking him for 'being childish'. "We have decreed that slave trading is now illegal, correct? If they have no source to get slaves from, slave trading will stop. And when all slaves die out—"

"WE CAN'T JUST RESORT TO WAITING FOR THEM TO DIE FOR THIS WHOLE MADNESS TO STOP!" Hiroaki practically screamed his lungs out. "They, too, have the right to be free!"

"So let death free them," Kazutoyo bluntly said. "They're worthless, anyway, those scum."

Hiroaki had never wanted so much to punch someone in his entire life.

"Ogata- _kun_ ," Masahito Okuya cut in. "Although I have to admit that your point is indeed right, the decree that you're trying to push is too idealistic. When you can propose something that won't lead to the public's animosity towards the complete freedom for slaves, we will think about it thoroughly."

When Okuya saw that Hiroaki could not say anything, he added, "I know that you have to fulfill people's expectations of you as Hirotaka Ogata's son, but things are not that simple, young man. I hope you can learn from this."

Hiroaki's hands clenched into fists so tight they started to bleed.

* * *

Marina strode towards a dumpster in a dark alleyway, her team following closely behind. She had gone there as quickly as she could when a report of a dead body being found had come into the department.

Disregarding the blaring yellow police lines set up around the crime scene, the veteran forensic technician went straight towards the police inspector she was familiar with. "Shingai," she greeted with a low, serious tone.

"Akatoki," Seiji Shingai greeted back grimly. "Although I really want to say that it's nice to see you again, it might not be appropriate in such situation."

"Well, we always meet in this kind of situation," Marina pulled her surgical gloves out of her pockets and over her hands. "Unless you're inviting me to lunch or dinner, that is."

Shingai let out a wry laugh. "Are you trying to hit on me, Akatoki?"

"A woman can always try, can't they?" Marina replied absentmindedly, crouching beside the corpse of a large-built man. "Any info I should know?"

"Victim's not identified yet," Shingai began as he looked up at his police notebook. "The body was found by the garbage man approximately an hour ago. If my skills are not rusty, I'll say that he died the night before, around 8 hours ago."

"Deep lacerations are present on the back, in addition to signs of the body being electrocuted," Marina murmured, taking in the sight of the corpse. "It's clear he died of abuse. What's with abused people ending up in dumpsters nowadays?"

"You tell me," Shingai commented. "Do you think this is connected to Hizri's Jane Doe?"

"Most likely," she said, getting up from her position. "I'll see if his witnesses can identify this man. In the meantime, I'll have my guys getting John Doe to the coroner."

Her phone suddenly rang. She pulled the device out of her pocket and looked at it to find that it was Shimona calling her. "Hello?"

It was silent for a while, before Marina hissed sharply, " _What?!_ You're kidding me!"

* * *

All around her, everything was an empty black.

The blinding pain shooting through her head was the first sign that told her she was in fact alive. As she tried to move, she felt the sting from the large wounds along her back and legs, instantly forcing her head back onto the plush pillow. That didn't stop the spasms from radiating along her body as her strained muscles throbbed in concert with the large bruises that peppered her pale skin.

She slowly cracked open her eyes one after another, willing her vision to stop blurring even as waves of nausea threatened to send her back into darkness. She couldn't afford to go back there, even when she wondered why. Taking some deep breaths she finally ventured a look around the room.

A man clad in lab coat stood near where she laid. Although she could not see his face, she could still see his short-cropped black hair gleaming under sunlight that at the moment only served to irritate her aching eyes much more. When he turned around, she could then see his cheery dark-chocolate colored eyes on his aristocratic face.

The man broke into a smile. "You're finally awake!" he said in a relief.

She tried her best to speak, but was unable to get anything out due to her parched throat.

"Hang on, let me get you something to drink," he said as he reached over to the bedside table for the water. "Drink slowly. You've just been through a long, hard surgery and are lucky to be alive," he told her gently as he held the cup to her dry lips.

She took some small sips. Only one thing occupied her mind as she croaked, "…Who…?"

"Don't speak too much for now," the man warned. "You've been unconscious for some time, it's important for you to take it easy. I'm Seijuro Akatoki, the practitioner assigned to your case. Can you tell me what your name is? I need to know."

She frowned, not saying anything as she furrowed her brow, obviously deep in thought. Seijuro almost gave up on getting any answer when she turned her face toward his.

Her golden eyes met his dark brown ones as she asked him, "Who am I?"


	4. Chapter 4

Tokyo Genetic Research Institute had been established in the 20th century, and by 20XX, it had become one of the leading organizations in the area of genetics and biotechnology, with its most important finding being the DNA analysis system with accuracy up to 99.9 percent. Their reputation was still held even after its name had been changed into Neopolis Genetic Research and Analysis Institute and its ownership had been given to the National Police Agency.

And its sterile hallway was where Marina Akatoki, the Head Forensic Scientist of National Forensic Science Department, was speed walking along at the moment.

Punching in her pass code into the security panel on the wall, she rushed into the Genetic Database Analysis Access Room as the heavy metallic doors slid open. In there, Shimona was standing, biting off her thumb nail in frustration as she glared at the big screen in front of her.

"Shimona," Marina panted, "care to elaborate more on what you said on the phone?"

"So as per your advice, I asked these guys," Shimona flailed her hand around the room towards the other staffs, "to run the DNA analysis test on Jane Doe, and she's indeed not registered in the database. But then, Ishibashi here," she gestured to a tall young man with light brown spiky hair who was sitting next to her, "suggested that we run a phenotype similarity test and facial recognition test out of curiosity, and we found this."

Marina looked at the big screen and immediately her face paled. "How come...?" she mumbled in disbelief, "Level of accuracy is...?"

"90 percent," Yusei Ishibashi, the man sitting next to Shimona, answered. "The only different genetic expressions are hair color, the length of fingers, fingerprints, earprints, and the position of moles. But then, because this person you are testing is not registered in the database, we can't do more about it."

Marina chewed her bottom lip. "You sure that the sample wasn't contaminated?"

"100 percent sure, Ma'am."

Shimona looked at her boss with a frown. "What should we do? We can't exactly tell Kuon that Jane Doe might be someone who has been—"

"Is Hizri a believer in resurrection?" Marina suddenly asked.

Taken aback, Shimona blinked. "No. He loathes science fiction with a passion. Why did you ask?"

"Then he will think we're crazy," Marina concluded with a resigned nod. "Better not tell him — or anyone else outside this room — anything about this until we are sure we get 100 percent accurate results about Jane Doe's identity. In the meanwhile, Ishibashi, can you run a genotype connection test between Jane Doe and the database? If we can't find her, we will hunt down her family.

"Ohara," she turned to look at a tall brunette sitting at the other part of the room, "I want a complete background check on this other girl, including any past relationships, doctor visits, medical check-ups, anything. Keyes, you're coming with me."

Raising an eyebrow in curiosity, Shimona followed the older woman out of the room. "Do you need me for something?" she asked after the heavy doors slid close.

"An unidentified man was found dead two hours ago in a dumpster in the rundown area," Marina explained. "Shingai had a hunch that John Doe might be connected to Hizri's raid yesterday. Can you contact Hizri and ask him to let some of the retrieved slaves identify this man?"

"Okay," Shimona replied, already taking out her cell phone from the pocket of her lab coat. "Anything else?"

"I want you to go to the coroner with your team and perform the autopsy on our newest John Doe," Marina continued. "Retrieve samples and run them through the DNA database. We might get something from it."

* * *

Kuon and Rick stroll along the crowded hallway of Central Hospital, having quickly gone there from the police headquarters after they had been contacted by a 'Seijuro Akatoki' about their Jane Doe. The blond of the duo barged in unceremoniously to find the young woman sitting up on the narrow bed accompanied by a doctor. Her face was concealed by her chestnut tresses, preventing Kuon from seeing her expression as she stared down at her hands in her lap.

The doctor turned around to address the two detectives, and then Kuon could see the black hair framing the aristocratic jaw line and the dark-chocolate eyes; features that he was familiar with.

"You must be Detective Hizri and Detective Ferrera," the doctor said with a friendly smile, while his eyes took in their appearance. His gaze turned disapproving when he spotted the guns holstered on their suspenders. "Excuse me, but firearms in any form are strictly prohibited in this establishment."

"Sorry about that," Rick said, sheepishly raking the hair on the back of his head. "We just reached the headquarters when the call got in, and then we rushed here without bothering with leaving the guns at the precinct. I hope you understand, and we promise not to do this again in the future. And you are?"

The doctor nodded in understanding before answering. "I was the one who made the call. I am Seijuro Akatoki, the practitioner assigned to this poor girl's case."

Kuon raised an eyebrow in interest. "By 'Akatoki', do you mean you're related to Marina Akatoki from the National Forensic Analysis Department?"

"My little sister sure is popular," Seijuro replied with a small laugh that reached his jolly eyes. He then turned back and leaned down gently so as to not startle the young woman. "My dear, there are some people wanting to talk to you for a bit. They're good people, so don't be scared, okay?"

Seijuro stepped aside to give room to Kuon and Rick, and she lifted her head to look at them.

She had the most beautiful golden eyes Kuon had ever seen.

_**"Kuon!" a little girl with long black hair tied in pig tails and golden eyes called him cheerfully. "Look! The little birdies are eating from my hands!"** _

"Kuon, dude?" Rick's face suddenly appeared before Kuon's eyesight, sporting a weird expression. "What the heck are you smiling giddily like a fool for? Man, you're giving me the creeps."

Kuon was completely startled. _What was that? It happened again!_ "What smile?" he asked his foster-brother innocently.

Rick gaped. "You didn't realize you were smiling? Kuon, you sure you don't want to get your head checked?"

"I can assure you that I'm perfectly fine," Kuon grumbled. He then turned to the Jane Doe and gave her a friendly smile. "Hello there. How are you today?"

She eyed him warily, her golden eyes flitting back and forth from Kuon and Rick to Seijuro. The doctor, noticing her discomfort, spoke again. "It's alright, my dear, they won't bite. And I'll be here all the time. Don't worry your pretty head."

Relaxed a bit, she looked at Kuon again with a small frown. "Who…?"

"Ah, sorry. I didn't realize that we were being rude," Kuon apologized. "My name is Kuon Hizri, and my friend here," he turned a bit to address Rick, who was grinning happily at her, "is Rick."

"Ricardo Ferrera, humbly at your service," Rick jokingly saluted at her.

Kuon rolled his eyes. "Forgive him; he's always been the clown everywhere he's been."

She stared at them. "Rick and… Corn?" she repeated carefully with a voice just above whispers.

Kuon chuckled. "Not Corn. It's Ku-on."

_**"Corn?" the little girl repeated, her face contorted into a puzzled frown.** _

_**He laughed at that, while inwardly finding her expression utterly adorable. However, he abruptly stopped his laughter when he saw her on the verge of tears already, her face red due to her embarrassment.** _

_**"I'm sorry," he mumbled after clearing his throat awkwardly. "It's just that you were just so cute that I..." Realizing that he was going nowhere but only making her more confused with his lame, almost Casanova-like excuse, he scratched the back of his head and cleared his throat once again. He suddenly wondered whether his parents not being there with them to see his embarrassing antics should be viewed as a blessing or not.** _

_**"Not Corn," he said. "It's Kuon. Ku-on."** _

_What?_ Kuon thought. _A déjà vu ? By the way, that little girl... She had the same eyes with this woman... Don't tell me..._

She did not say anything else for a while — instead she only stared at Kuon, disregarding Rick's and Seijuro's presences. Her eyes glinted with what Seijuro considered recognition. "Are we… related?"

Kuon slightly frowned. "In some ways," he mumbled. _Well, I'm not lying. Me saving her can be considered a relationship… right?_ "What can you remember before this whole incident?"

She tilted her head in confusion. "What incident?"

"Sorry to interrupt," Seijuro suddenly spoke up, startling Kuon and Rick, "But before you guys go there with the questioning, can we have a talk outside first?"

The girl's expression immediately changed into a horrified one. "You're leaving?" she asked Seijuro in unmistakable fear.

"Not quite, my dear," Seijuro assured her with a gentle smile. "These gentlemen and I will be just right outside the door, and will be back by your side in no less than 10 minutes. Meanwhile, please get some rest. You need it."

* * *

Having nothing to do in her condition, abiding Seijuro's advice, and feeling the dizziness coming back to assault her senses, the girl lay back down gently onto the bed, placing her head gingerly onto the pillow. Now that the painkillers the kind doctor had administered to her before had kicked on, she finally could not feel the pain resulting from her broken ribs — although she still had to be extremely careful with her head and the dressed cuts on her back.

The empty room made her lonely, now that she had gotten used to the presence of other people.

Since she could not remember anything from her past before the time she had regained consciousness in the hospital, she felt justified in feeling scared for her life. The only person she could trust at the moment was Seijuro — heck, he was the only person she had ever spent time and conversed with the longest ever since she had started anew without any memory. And there was no denying that the black-haired doctor was as kind and gentle as a saint.

She had the feeling that the old her — the one she only grasped by mere feelings — would like a man with a personality like Seijuro's as a father.

Her thoughts then fleeted towards the two new men who had introduced themselves as Kuon and Rick. The latter seemed easy to approach, and she could read the guy like a book. There had been no sign of hidden malice beneath his wide, jolly smile, and she had known instantly that this guy could be trusted.

The other man, however, intrigued her.

When she had first had a look at him, the first thing she had noticed had been his hair, which had shimmered beautiful gold under the rays of sunlight from the window. Next, when their eyes had caught each other, his jade eyes took her breath away.

Or had they been emerald?

And the last thing that she was sure would make her faint sooner or later had been his smile. In her opinion, his smile should be considered as a crime worthy of punishment by the law. However, she could not have helped but notice the way he had looked at her. She got the feeling that Kuon had been scrutinizing her with those jade eyes.

Still lying on the bed, she glanced at the door. From the tinted glass, she could see the outlines of the three men conversing, and she relaxed, knowing full well that Seijuro really intended to keep his words. She could not help loving the man like a father.

She did not know whether her attachment to the doctor was a good thing or not.

Her attention shifted to the tallest outline of the three. Although all of them were as tall as giants, she noticed that Kuon was obviously the tallest, with Rick coming to the closest second. She could feel her heart tug, and she was sure it was not because Kuon was very good-looking.

She felt that there was something about her and Kuon waiting to be revealed from the deepest part of her past.

* * *

"The girl suffers a retrograde amnesia," Seijuro began to explain, "which most likely results from the broken blood vessels in the medial temporal lobe of her brain. Thankfully, from what the MRI scans show me, there's no further damage, although the concussion will make her nauseous from time to time."

Kuon clenched his jaws. "So she has no recollection of her past?"

Rick immediately elbowed him in the ribs. "Kuon, it's not her fault!"

"I know!" the blond hollered at the older detective before turning back to Seijuro. "Does she remember her name?"

"Unfortunately no," the doctor answered grimly, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "But she still has the ability to do daily activities, so she shouldn't be hindered in her daily life."

"Is there any chance of her recovering her memories?" Rick asked.

"Of course there is," Seijuro said. "The blood vessels will heal themselves, but it depends on her cell regenerative abilities."

Kuon sighed. "It might take a very long time."

"That's my point," Seijuro agreed. "And also, the chance of her recovering all of her memories won't be 100 percent ― she did have her head busted. Putting that aside, the other injuries seem to be healing just fine, and we're glad that the lacerations on her back are far from reaching her organs and spinal cord. I'm keeping her for at least one more week to see how she progresses with the concussion, and if everything is good, she can be discharged. What will you guys do with her after that?"

The two detectives exchanged glances, and Kuon said, "She's going to be under my protection in my home."

Seijuro smiled. "Actually, I think it will be good for her," he chirped. "You know what? When she looked at you, Detective Hizri, I think she recognized you somehow."

"What?" Kuon gaped. "I've never met her before, Akatoki- _sensei_."

"Really?" Seijuro wondered before briefly lifting his shoulders in a shrug. "Well, I might have been mistaken. Still, this is only my instinct as a doctor, but you'll do her good. And my instincts have never disappointed me."

* * *

Koo smiled lovingly at Julie as she entered his hospital room in all her beauty, followed by a horde of uniformed workers he assumed to be the employees of a catering service. "What's the occassion?" he asked as the workers reeled at least ten trolleys of food into the room.

"Whatever do you mean?" Julie asked back. "Are you saying that you don't want all these servings of food?"

Koo faked his shock. "Julie, do you not love me any longer? Of course I want the food!" He grabbed his wife and smothered her face with affectionate kisses. "I swear, Honey, what did I do to deserve a savior such as you?"

"That's only for me to know," Julie winked at him before giving him a passionate kiss on the lips. "Eat up, heal fast, and get back home quick. I'm missing you being in bed with me."

"My intention exactly, Honey," Koo said, giving her another kiss. "By the way, Kuon came to visit some time earlier this morning. Did he tell you?"

Julie's eyes widened. "No," she replied. "He didn't say anything when he left the house. What's wrong?"

"The boy asked me why I am so hell-bent on bringing human trafficking down," Koo said. "I wonder if he still can't remember what happened ten years ago."

"Darling," Julie gasped. "Do you still blame yourself for what happened to her?"

"Why should I not?" Koo suddenly snapped in frustration. "She completely trusted us, and I let them take her just like that. I don't even know whether she's still alive!"

"Do you think I didn't hurt that time?" Julie asked, backing away from Koo with tears brimming at the corner of her emerald eyes. "She was like my own daughter, so don't tell me that I didn't care!

"But then again, what could I do? The guy claiming to be her father was shot dead, you'd been shot near your lungs, and they had Kuon at point-blank range. Now tell me, which one should I have prioritized?"

She sobbed openly after finishing her sentence, and it absolutely felt horrible for Koo. Yes, they had their quarrels as husband and wife, but never before had they blatantly confessed that each of them felt insecure and hopeless. Especially Julie, who had the pride of royalty.

"I'm sorry," Koo apologized with a low voice as he drew his wife back into his gentle embrace. "I'm so sorry, Julie."

They spent the rest of their time crying for their lost beloved, regretting how they had not done anything to keep her by their side. The moment unfortunately was awkwardly broken by a nurse who screamed in fright right after she had seen all the trolleys of food Julie had brought.

* * *

"How are we related?"

Kuon was taken aback by the sudden question from the chestnut-haired woman. Not knowing what else he should tell her, he decided to just tell her the truth. "I found you dying and brought you here."

"So," she said slowly, "we don't exactly know each other?"

Briefly exchanging glances with Rick, Kuon shook his head. "No," he confirmed. But a second later, seeing the dejected expression on her face, he hurriedly added, "But I'd like to know more about you. You know what," he perked up, "I'll help you recover your memory. How does that sound?"

From behind him, Kuon could hear Rick face palming himself as if saying, 'Great, this guy's done it.'

She slowly lifted her head, her golden eyes brimming with hope. "Really?" she asked. "You will really help me?"

Kuon nodded. "I will,'' he replied firmly. "I'm a detective ― the best possible person to help in situations like this." He enclosed her hands on her lap with his bigger ones. "Leave everything to me."

She did not say anything for a while ― she only stared at him, trying to figure his intention out. "You said we didn't know each other; why are you so eager to help me recover my memories?"

Kuon's eyes widened. "You were found dying in a dumpster near the site of an illegal slave auction, so there's a high chance that you were involved," he explained. "Your lost memories might be crucial in bringing down the human trafficking ring. And personally, there's something about you that I..." he trailed off. _That I... what?_

"What he wanted to say is," Rick butted in, "you are a citizen of Neopolis, and it's our job as police to keep all citizens safe." He had to do a double-take to make sure that it was disappointment he saw on the girl's face, but alas, her face quickly returned to its stoic default.

"I see," she mumbled. "So can you tell me my name?"

Rick's grin faltered. "Uh, you see," he stuttered. "We still can't find you in the database. We're calling you Jane Doe for now, but I guess you'd want a proper name, huh?"

"How about Setsuka?" Seijuro supplied as he entered the room. "It's the name of my late daughter, and you look a bit like her."

"You had a daughter?" Kuon asked in curiosity.

The doctor nodded solemnly. "And a son as well. Both of them died in a plane crash."

"I'm sorry to hear that," the girl murmured sympathetically. "But are you sure I can use her name?"

"Go ahead," Seijuro said, smiling heartily at her. "She'd be more than happy, I assure you. And if you want to use another name later, please feel free to do so."

* * *

"Chief, a caller waiting for you on line 3," Sebastian Mahadzir, Lory's personal assistant, informed the police chief superintendent.

Lory let out a little grunt in acknowledgement before reaching for his receiver. "Lory Takarada speaking."

The room was silent as Lory listened to the other end of the phone. Not long after, the man growled in anger.

" _What do you want?_ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea of the whole Tokyo Genetic Research Institute and its DNA analysis system is not mine. I got them from watching a film titled 'Platinum Data'. If you're a fan of a crime and chase films, this might be worthwhile to watch. Personally, I love this movie.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear my grandfather in heaven, I dedicate this chapter to you. I hope you have your eternal, happy rest there.

Sebastian Mahadzir had worked for Lory for almost 10 years, and the older, mustached man had always been the image of wise, albeit sometimes too goofy for his own good, and cunning-minded person that had gotten his position by solely relying on his abilities alone.

And in those past 10 years, Sebastian had seen a lot of Lory's expression, ranging from his kind smile, his childish pout, and his disciplined sternness. And sometimes Lory could be angry, especially towards criminals that acted beyond stupid.

But never had he seen the chief superintendent exuding pure anger and malice.

On the contrary, that was what exactly was happening now, and it had begun the moment he transferred the mysterious call to his boss.

"What do you want?" Lory growled into the phone, completely enraged.

The room was silent as Lory listened to the other end of the phone, and Sebastian unconsciously held his breath due to the tension. Not long after, Lory roared, "Like hell I would do that!"

Silence once again filled the room while the mysterious caller spoke again, before the call was hung up. Lory glared at the phone as if he was hoping his death glare could be transmitted through the optical fiber cables. He then put the phone aside and finally addressed Sebastian.

"I need you to make some calls," Lory said. "And make sure no one knows you're calling them."

"If I may ask, Chief," Sebastian asked, "What was that call about?"

Lory twitched uncomfortably before replying, "It'd be better of you, my friend, not to know."

* * *

Being only in his 20s, Taira Murasame was a tall, well-built man with good-looking features. Of course, as part of male population, he took pride of being able to make girls swoon over him.

Unfortunately, his charms did not work with a certain Medical Examiner Keyes, the only woman he was interested in ― rather, he was the one being flustered whenever he was face to face with her, embarrassing himself as a result.

How could he face her again in a gallant manner after he had unconsciously referred to soda as 'Murasame blood' in front of her? Other females might have found it cute, but not this woman who disliked childish behavior like a plague.

Not helping matters was the fact that now he worked together with her cousin, whom everyone knew never took any shit during work. And to make things even worse, she was their main contact in the forensic department. He had not had the chance to talk to her directly again after making that bad first impression, so he had been preparing himself.

However, Shimona chose to appear at his office ― his team's office ― when he was completely unprepared.

Murasame was working on paperwork ― something Kuon had dumped on him before the blond and Rick had rushed out of the room earlier ― together with Yashiro at their respective desks when the medical examiner rapped at the door. When the black-haired detective lifted his head to address their visitor, his heart missed a beat as he saw her clad as usual in her lab coat and comfortable flats, leaning against the doorsill with one hand in her pocket.

Much to his own chagrin ― and he was sure he would beat himself later for being a complete chicken, as how Rick usually put it ― Murasame dove under his desk, away from Shimona's sight.

"Hey there, Yashiro," the blonde greeted. If she had noticed Murasame's presence before he had hidden himself, she did not show it. "Is Kuon around?"

"Good day to you as well, Keyes, and yes, he was," Yashiro replied with a grin. "Until about one hour ago, that is. He had only been sitting at his desk for only 5 minutes tops before we received a call from the hospital about our Jane Doe."

Her tone changed from being cool to one of excitement. "Is she awake?"

"The caller didn't say anything," the brunet lightly shrugged.

"I'll head there now. Thanks, Yashiro!" Murasame could hear her walking away from the office and was about to stand up when the sound of her footsteps stopped. "And Murasame, I'd look for a better hiding place next time if I were you."

And she walked away, leaving Murasame frozen stiff due to her biting sarcasm. Yashiro, on the other hand, just looked at him with pity.

* * *

"Miroku- _san_ , how could you get hurt so often?" Ruriko Matsunai, a young nurse working at Central Hospital, asked exasperatedly. "It was only three days ago that you came here with a bullet nesting in your calf, and now you're back here with a pocket knife in your shoulder blade!"

Her patient, a tall man with waist-long bleached hair, only chuckled. His black trench coat, which was the only thing covering his lean body aside from his dark leather pants, pooled around his waist and lap, revealing his taut chest and chiseled abdomen along with his bloodied shoulder.

He leaned forward until his face was only an inch from Ruriko's, making her flush. She, after all, could not deny that this man was obviously charming. "Only because I can't wait to see you again, Ruriko- _chan_ ," he breathed huskily with a cool smirk.

Ruriko giggled; a pretty shade of pink dusting her cheeks. "Sweet," she commented, moving away from her rather distracting patient to grab the disinfectant, cotton balls, tweezers, and sterile gauze. "But it's not going to save you from the pain."

"Try me," Miroku challenged.

Frowning a little in concentration, Ruriko dabbed a cotton ball into the disinfectant using the tweezers. "This is going to sting," she warned, bringing the soaked cotton near the bloody shoulder.

As she dabbed the cotton on the injury, Miroku's lips met hers, kissing her passionately.

Ruriko could not help the embarrassing moan she let out when she felt Miroku lick her bottom lip, coaxing her to open her mouth. Their tongues were only starting to tease each other when the door opened and someone cleared his throat.

They pulled away from each other, and Ruriko was sure she was going to get in trouble, because at the door was an angry and a bit amused Ushio Kurosaki.

The new man was a bit more muscular and a bit on the shorter side compared to Miroku. He wore a simple cotton V-neck shirt and ripped dark pants underneath his lab coat. Although he was a legal medical practitioner, he looked completely disheveled with his chin unshaven and his spiky reddish brown hair uncombed. However, both Miroku and Ruriko could spot a pair of retro style-framed sunglasses perched on his crown.

"Matsunai- _kun_ ," he grumbled. "What did I tell you about making out with the patients?"

Ashamed, Ruriko scampered out of the room, leaving Miroku with the delinquent doctor. Kurosaki let out a sigh before he sat on the chair she had occupied before, taking over Miroku's treatment. He discarded the cotton ball Ruriko had used into an empty metal tray, and then he dabbed a new ball into the disinfectant. After that, he dabbed the soaked cotton ball onto Miroku's injury not-so-gently.

Miroku groaned in pain.

"Oh, sorry," Kurosaki apologized, although Miroku could feel that the doctor did not mean it. "You should've known better than to flirt with a nurse in the hospital, Miroku." And with that he dabbed the cotton ball again onto the stabbed shoulder.

After long minutes of Kurosaki mercilessly treating the stab wound — including suturing — and Miroku yelling and groaning in pain, the doctor quickly taped gauze over the wound and gave it a small pat, which made Miroku yelp. "It's done," Kurosaki informed monotonously. "And I'd better not see you here again for at least a week. Better yet, don't ever come here again. I definitely don't want to see you seducing the nurses."

Glaring at Kurosaki, Miroku left the room, leaving the door open. Kurosaki sighed, and then opened the window. He rummaged in his pocket for his pack of cigarettes, and lit one.

He was about to bring the lit cigarette to his lips when a feminine voice scolded him. "You know you're not allowed to smoke in the hospital."

Kurosaki turned around to see Shimona Keyes at the door, lifting one eyebrow at him in warning. She still had her flats on, but she decided to leave her lab coat at her office at National Forensic Science Department. He looked at the light gray silk blouse and cream pencil skirt she had decided to wear today, and how they complimented her skin and did not go with the green of her eyes.

"Furthermore," she added, walking further into the room. "What will the patients say if they see their doctor smoking?"

Kurosaki smiled as he snubbed the cigarette. "What are you doing here?" he asked softly.

"Looking for someone," Shimona answered, shrugging lightly. "You happen to see my cousin around?"

"Just got here myself," he replied, sitting down on his chair. He then lifted up his face and brought her closer. "So you're not spending time here?" he confirmed, pouting a little in disappointment.

Shimona gave him a small smile. "Still have some work to do. I still have to talk with Kuon, and then go back to the office to give Marina her report."

"How about tonight?" Kurosaki asked with hope in his dark eyes.

She mulled over it for awhile, inwardly skimming through her workload, and then said, "Hopefully nothing new comes up. Your place?"

"Sure," he murmured. "I'll see you, then."

Their lips then caught each other in a kiss.

* * *

"Slowly, Setsuka," Seijuro told the chestnut-haired young woman encouragingly. "Don't rush — especially when you're still prone to feeling nauseous and your ribs haven't healed yet."

Carefully, with Kuon and Rick ready to support her in case her legs could not support her, Setsuka put her feet onto the floor. She paused for a while to stare at a pair of slippers at the side of her bed.

Noticing this, Seijuro told her with a fatherly smile, "It's okay if you don't wear the slippers."

Setsuka did not say anything. She shifted her gaze from the doctor towards the door of the adjacent washroom, before staring back again at the slippers. Her brows then knitted together into a determined frown as she slowly stood up. Her legs were shaky, but at least they could support her weight.

Gingerly, she took a step.

"Yes, just like that," Seijuro applauded happily. "You're doing great, Setsuka! Now let's see if you can make it to the washroom."

Something glinted in her golden eyes — something that Kuon recognized as being challenged. And Setsuka took another step.

She was almost making her third step towards the washroom when suddenly a wave of dizziness assaulted her. A second later, she found herself almost flat on the floor, and would have been so if not for the strong arms supporting her.

"Are you okay?" Kuon asked, completely concerned. He was crouching with one knee on the floor, his arms enveloping Setsuka in what looked like an embrace.

Setsuka nodded, her cheeks warm. She might have lost her memories, but she knew that being in the arms of a very handsome man was an opportunity no one would miss.

"Maybe walking by yourself is too soon," Seijuro commented, scribbling notes on Setsuka's medical record. "Nevertheless, progress is progress. You're doing great, Setsuka, so don't be discouraged, okay?"

The young woman gave the doctor a small smile. "But I still need to go to the restroom," she told him with a small voice.

"Then I'll call for one of the nurses to help you," Seijuro said.

The response was instantaneous and unexpected. "Please let me try to do it by myself!" she exclaimed, completely horrified.

Seijuro looked baffled. This was the first time in his career as a doctor that a patient refused the offer of help. " And why is that, Setsuka?" he could not help but ask.

"Because I hate to inconvenience... anyone?" She wondered herself why she had reacted like that.

Glancing back and forth between the two puzzled people — heck, he himself did not understand what was going on — Kuon decided to take matters into his hands. "Why don't we do this?" he suggested. "One of us can bring you to the washroom and then leave you there for your privacy. After you're done, just call one of us. How does that sound?"

As much as she wanted to reject the idea, she could not find any logical reason to do so. She nodded in surrender.

Just as Kuon crouched down to lift her up in his arms, there was a knock on the door, which then opened, revealing Shimona.

"We need to talk," she immediately said.

Kuon hesitated for a while, staring at Setsuka for a bit. Noticing this, Rick quickly told him, "I'll help Setsu. You go talk with Shimona, see what she wants."

* * *

"So what is it you want to talk about?" Kuon asked once he had joined his cousin in a quiet corner near Setsuka's room.

Shimona, however, decided not to go right to the problem. She instead asked, "Aren't you getting a bit too attached to our Jane Doe?"

"It's Setsuka," Kuon grumbled.

She lifted her eyebrows in pleasant surprise. "She has her memories intact?" the medical examiner asked in excitement.

"No," he mildly groaned. "She lost all of it. The poor girl can't even remember her own name. 'Setsuka' is a name Seijuro- _sensei_ came up with when we thought she would want to be called with a proper name instead of Jane Doe. Are you calling me out just to reprimand me to not get close to her?"

"A dead John Doe was found in yet another dumpster yesterday morning," Shimona finally explained her case, frowning a bit. "Shingai from Homicide suspected that the victim might be related to the auction you raided last night. He wants some of the slaves you guys secured to identify him."

"Sure," Kuon quickly complied. "Any clue on who he is?"

She shrugged. "The autopsy results only stated that he died of blood loss from the many lacerations all over the body. I hypothesized that his wounds were from the same weapon used on Ja — Setsuka," she quickly corrected herself when she caught him glaring at her. "Ishibashi's still running the samples we got through the DNA database, so I can't tell you more for now."

Something struck Kuon. "Have you tried running Setsuka through the database?" he asked in curiosity.

Although it was very slight, the detective saw Shimona stiffen. "I did," she answered after a while. "She wasn't registered. Oh, and by the way," she rummaged through her purse and took out the purple stone they all knew as Setsuka's, "Here's her stone. It might trigger something from her."

* * *

"Damn that _yankee_ doctor," Miroku grumbled. It had been almost half an hour since Kurosaki's treatment, and now his injured shoulder still throbbed immensely in pain. Because of that, he had come back to the hospital to either ask for another treatment — hopefully from the sweet Ruriko — or to sue Kurosaki's ass off.

He turned at one corner and walked along a hallway when he heard someone saying from behind a closed door, "Slow down, Setsu! Let me just bring you there; otherwise you'll just fall down and injure yourself further!"

Instantly an image of a delicate, helpless pretty girl formed inside Miroku's mind. Out of curiosity — and a bit of lecherous habit — he peeked through the small window on the door.

The tall man with cropped dark brown hair was the first thing Miroku saw through the small space. He was obviously a very active man, with his body muscles lean and well defined, and his skin dark from the frequent exposure to the sun's rays.

Miroku was sure that if he were caught in a brawl with the guy, he would never stand a chance.

The man in the room then crouched down and came back up, lifting someone in his arms, and that was when Miroku's jaw dropped.

"Isn't she...?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter entails graphic content on sexual abuse that obviously is not appropriate for readers under 18. If you are easily affected with such content, please refrain from reading the part indicated by the warning I place in the chapter, or do not read this chapter at all.

Kuon and Rick had been true to their words when they had said they would leave her to privacy.

The older detective, after a lot of begging and persuading on his part, had brought her bridal-style into the small washroom adjacent to her room, and left her inside once he had deposited her on the cover of the water closet.

Holding onto the metal railing on the tile wall, she closed her eyes for a few moments to try to think. This would be the first time she would be doing this, and she was nervous of what she would find out. She took a couple of deep breaths to steady her nerves before slowly walking towards the sink, which she leaned on in order to look at the mirror hanging above it.

The image that looked back at her widened its golden eyes just as she did. Her hair, albeit messy and spiking out in every direction around the nape of her neck, was a lovely shade of orange-ish brown that stood out against the white of the gauze wrapped around her injured head. Her lips were the color of rose underneath the chapped skin, complimenting the fair complexion of her bruise-covered face.

Setsuka was not sure how long she had stood there staring at the battered sight in front of her eyes. After a few more moments she looked around and then back at the mirror again. Questions about her bruises and stinging wounds flooded her mind, but there was a bigger issue that had been haunting her from the very first second she had looked at her reflection.

 _So this is me_ , she thought. _But why does this face feel like it's not mine?_

* * *

Kuon chuckled lightly when a fireball of a ginger-haired girl slammed into his arms and snuggled into his chest. "Hello, Maria," he greeted the girl.

"Hi, Kuon!" Maria Takarada greeted back. Her waist-long, naturally curly hair was let loose on her back and adorned by a single red ribbon that matched her red, doll-like dress. For a giant like Kuon, Maria looked like a mere dwarf that had to look up so high to catch his eyes. "It's been so long! Where have you been?"

"Things happened," Kuon replied with a small shrug, crouching down to get Maria more comfortable. "How are you doing?"

Maria instantly launched into an animated account of her days in school. "You see, this school is just super cool! And all my classmates are really nice! They let me play to their house!"

"That's really nice of them," he commented casually with a warm smile that encouraged her more. He could never get tired of hearing from his little 'sister'.

"And then," the little girl continued with more vigor, "suddenly a cat jumped out from the steps under the huge whiteboard — you know, the one we use to reach the upper part of the board — and when we had a look, we found kittens! They're super cute! So we decided to adopt them as a class!"

Unannounced, she bolted into her room and came back out seconds later with her cell phone. "We took pictures with the kitties," she informed him, navigating through the pink designed-for-children phone encrusted with colorful fake diamonds and tiny heart ornaments. "Look, Kuon, look!"

Heeding Maria's words, Kuon took the cell phone and looked at it. There was Maria and a bunch of other children he assumed as her classmates; each of them holding a kitten in their arms.

The one in Maria's arms, however, got his attention the most. It had soft chestnut brown fur and stared at the camera with wide dark eyes. It reminded him a lot of—

"Setsuka," he breathed.

"Who?" Maria asked, tilting her head in curiosity.

Just realizing that he had spoken aloud, Kuon shook his head. "Just an acquaintance of mine," he clarified. "That kitten you held has the same color of fur as her hair."

"Hmm…" the little girl hummed in apprehension. She suddenly pouted when something crossed her mind. "Kuon," she began, narrowing her dark eyes at the much larger man in front of her suspiciously, "don't tell me she's your girlfriend?"

Kuon was completely astounded. "Wha—?"

"I knew it!" she exclaimed in childish fury.

"Maria, wait—"

"Kuon, you idiot!" she screamed, hitting his chest repeatedly with her balled fists. "Didn't you promise that your bride would be _me_?"

"She's _not_ my girlfriend!" Kuon exclaimed as he tried to stop Maria from throwing a tantrum. "And besides, before I could marry you, both your grandfather and father would skin me alive first."

The little fists abruptly stopped. Kuon looked down only to see Maria lowering her head. "Is something wrong, Maria?" he inquired gently, not wanting to upset the girl further.

"They wouldn't do it," she murmured. "They don't care about me, anyway."

 _Now this is new_ , Kuon thought apprehensively. _Usually she complained on how the Chief and her father spoiled her rotten and unnecessarily._ "What happened?"

"Do you remember what today is?" she asked with a low voice.

"Ah, that reminds me," he said, reaching into the inner pocket of his coat. A second later, Maria was face to face with a velvet box in his large hand. "Happy birthday," he grinned.

Maria immediately squealed loudly and tackled him in excitement. "You remembered!" she said with an ear-to-ear smile. "Kuon, I love you!"

He only chuckled while straightening up. "Aren't you celebrating it today with your father?"

Her face quickly went back to its grim expression. "He promised," she said. "Father told me that he would come home yesterday and go with me to 'Kimagure Rock Land' today and take a picture with Bo, but he didn't show up."

"Has he contacted you or your grandfather?" Kuon asked, realizing the possible weight of the situation.

Maria shook her head. "No, he hasn't."

"Maria," Kuon said, looking at her eye to eye in all seriousness. "I need to talk to your grandfather, now."

"But, Kuon," the girl stuttered, feeling unnerved with the sudden intense atmosphere between her and her beloved prince charming, "Grandfather called earlier and said he would be working overtime and staying in his office."

"Then I'll go to his office," Kuon stated and started to get up from his seat only to be stopped by Maria. When he turned around, he saw her almost bawling her eyes out in fright.

And then his common sense kicked in. Of course there was no little girl brave enough to be left alone in an empty big house by herself when she was put in a situation like hers. Furthermore, it was even truer when the said situation had not been proven true.

He sighed with a small smile. "Come on," he said, grasping her small hand and herded her towards the front door. "Let's go get a cake and then to my house. Mom will be so pleased to celebrate your birthday with you." He paused for a bit. "But before that, maybe we should grab some nice dinner. I don't want Mom's cooking ruining your stomach."

Maria boomed in laughter at that.

* * *

Chiori got more and more nervous with every step forward she took.

Detective Hizri had contacted her the day before and asked her if she could identify someone for him — for the Homicide Department, to be exact. And because she wanted to repay him for saving her friend, whom she still had no chance to meet again, Chiori had agreed in a heartbeat.

Now, as she followed a staff from Forensic Department into the cold room, flanked between Detective Yashiro and Detective Kijima — the latter trying to subtly flirt with her every chance he got — she was starting to question whether she had been sane when she had agreed to help Kuon with identification.

The elements of death had never been friendly with her. They always reminded her of the suffering her fellow slaves had to endure. Images flashed of slaves dying all around her from unimaginable torture. She could feel bile rising to her throat.

"Here it is," the staff of the Forensic Department — which Chiori identified as a Matsushima — broke the eerie silence as he stopped next to a covered body at the deeper part of the cold room. After Chiori, Yashiro, and Kijima halted their steps, Matsushima uncovered the body.

Chiori's face immediately went pale, a fact that got immediately noticed by the two detectives.

"Do you recognize him?" the brunet bespectacled man asked with a voice barely above a whisper.

She nodded tensely. "He's Gin."

Yashiro frowned in confusion. "Gin?"

Kijima rolled his eyes. "Haven't you read the testimony file, Yuki?" he sneered.

The other detective glared at him, and Kijima decided to ignore him. "So this guy is that Gin you mentioned, huh…" he mumbled speculatively before turning to Matsushima. "Any info on this guy?"

"Ah, yes," Matsushima readily replied, skimming through the many documents and reports he brought with him. "Victim's name is…"

* * *

"Ginta Furuya, 38 years old," Shimona spoke up as she and Kurosaki lay naked side by side on his bed, covered only with his down comforter. "Ring any bell?"

The _yankee_ -like doctor frowned at the name. "The name sounds familiar, but Furuya and Ginta are very common names among the society. Got any picture of the guy?"

"Sadly, no," she sighed. "But I can describe him in detail."

"Of course you do," Kurosaki snorted. "Okay then, humor me."

She took a deep breath before she started reciting. "Around 180 centimeter tall, body composition entirely covered by adipose cells that account for approximately 90% of his total body mass—"

"You can just say that he's _fat_ ," he cut in, which earned a glare from the medical examiner.

Shimona snorted while snuggling deeper into his chest. "Okay, _ridiculously_ and _impossibly_ fat. Oily scalp and hair — but then again, maybe it was because the corpse was found in a dumpster."

"Keh," Kurosaki scoffed. "So far he sounds like a fatso for me. Any other distinct characteristic that might make me remember something of him?"

"From what Kuon told me, he seemed to use whip a lot as his means of punishment for the goods," she told him after thinking for a while. "And that explained the lacerations on Ja— I mean, Setsuka."

He lifted one eyebrow in amusement, but decided against teasing her about the slip-up. "Whips, huh…" he mumbled, raking his memories. His eyebrows furrowed. "I know one, and he might fit your description."

"Really?" Shimona perked up in excitement.

"Uh-huh," Kurosaki continued, his left hand stroking Shimona's blonde tresses absently. "And his reputation isn't that good. There was a rumor in the black market that he always sullies the goods in his hands. People don't like the goods they buy to be dirtied beforehand, you see. So the black market tries to block him off. Seemed like someone had given him a second chance."

"So you don't know who he was working for?" she asked her lover.

"Unfortunately, no," he replied as he leaned forward, making Shimona rolled away from him to allow him to get off the bed. He reached for his boxers and put them on, before turning around to look at her again. "But when a guy like Whip-lover Gin was allowed to hold a grand auction, that means his boss was a big-shot in the black market. And that means trouble."

While Shimona let his words sink in, he started talking again. "By the way, I also heard something interesting a few days ago. They were talking about a new modus operandi…"

* * *

Yashiro and Kijima looked at each other and then back to Chiori. Finally Kijima stepped forward.

"I appreciate how difficult this is for you," he said once they both saw the tears starting to fall down the woman's cheeks.

"Everything you tell us will help the police that much more with getting the man who has done these terrible things," Yashiro added. "It will take some time, but what you're telling us now will certainly help the other slaves he might try to go after in the future."

"Now," Kijima said in a soft voice and placed the cup of water in front of her. She took a few sips from the cup. "Feel free to take your time."

A few minutes later she started again. "And th-that time… He… He—" Chiori could not finish her sentence as violent sobs wrecked her small body. She fell onto her knees, tears kept falling against her pale cheeks. "I know that I'm—I'm unworthy as a— a slave, but… What h—he did to me… It made me feel vi—violated…"

Both Kijima and Yashiro wanted to say something to comfort her, but as they looked at the bawling girl in front of them, their throats were parched, and not a single word came out from their mouths.

They guiltily knew that whatever they said would not do anything to help the tormented young woman in front of them.

* * *

"While I fully support your intention, Ogata- _kun_ ," Harufumi said with a sad expression, "the other city government officials don't. They completely rejected your proposal."

Hiroaki sighed dejectedly. "I should've known," he murmured. The Parliament member then stood up and bowed before the mayor. "But thank you very much for even considering it, Fuwa- _san_. I appreciate it."

"We're fighting the same thing, Ogata- _kun_ ," Harufumi replied with a small gentle smile. "I definitely can't wait for the day when slavery is no more. Keep pressing on, alright?"

"Thank you," Hiroaki said with a sincere gratitude. "How're your wife and son?"

If the younger man noticed the uncomfortable fluctuation of emotion on Harufumi's face, he did not say. "They're fine," the mayor answered. "The boy's still trying to prove that he's not a mama's boy."

Hiroaki chuckled. "Isn't that great?" he commented. "No woman wants to marry a mama's boy."

 _If only you knew, Ogata-_ kun, Harufumi thought, his mind reeling to the unpleasant sights he had to endure the night before…

* * *

**_—_ MATURE GRAPHIC CONTENT START _—_**

_Harufumi's smile instantly faded when he opened the door and saw Yayoi, his wife, sob histerically on the floor like a woman mad with grief. His heart dropped as he approached her. What had happened when he had been at work?_

_The answer came only seconds after he had started tending to his weeping wife — and it was not the answer he had expected, for it came in the form of another woman's scream of agony._

_He quickly bolted upstairs towards Shotaro's room, where he was sure the scream had come from. The door was opened, and what he saw both hurt and disgust him at the same time._

_A young woman with long, lustrous black hair was sprawled naked on the bed with tears streaming down profusely down her cheeks. Bruises and other signs of abuse peppered her from head to toe, and that was evident even without Harufumi ogling her. And behind her, pounding into her mercilessly was Shotaro. Even as Harufumi walked in to help the girl, the bottle blond did not stop what he was doing._

" _Shotaro!" Harufumi hollered in fury. "Stop this blasphemy right this instant!"_

_Only with that, Shotaro paused, giving the young woman time to take a breath though Harufumi could see she was still in pain. The young man turned to his father with a scowl on his face. "What the heck's your problem, old man?"_

" _That should be my line, Shotaro!" the mayor yelled back. "Didn't you realize that you were hurting this girl?!"_

" _It's none of your business, so back off!" Shotaro spat mockery. "She's a slave, anyway. Why should I care whether she's hurting?"_

_Now Harufumi realized why Yayoi looked so hurt._

_She had been among the numerous slaves bought by his father when he was young. Harufumi grew up being taught to look down at slaves — that they had been far lower than human beings — and only realized that the whole thing had been seriously fucked up when he had fallen in love with Yayoi._

_They had then eloped, and years later they had given birth to Shotaro. The small family lived happily for a while, until Yayoi fell ill to leukemia and Harufumi had had more responsibility in the government to fulfill. As a result, little Shotaro spent most of his childhood in his grandparents' residence._

_And that had started all of the conflicts in their family._

_Grandpa Fuwa had been so adamant in making Shotaro his heir, and therefore had made sure that Shotaro got all the appropriate education and ideology, including the extremely negative view of slaves' position in the society. This, of course, had not sat well with the fact that Yayoi — his own mother — had once been a slave._

_And Shotaro sexually abusing this slave girl hit too close to home for Yayoi._

_Unconciously, Harufumi's hand flew and slapped his son hard on the face, making him tumble backwards on the bed. The movement, however, also made the girl scream again in excruciating pain, and that was when Harufumi completely realize what had been happening before he opened the damn door._

_Shotaro had been sodomizing the woman._

_Extremely disgusted, Harufumi yanked Shotaro up by his bottle blond hair. The younger man struggled against him but Harufumi pulled harder. He pushed the button on his son's wall that connected him immediately to the authorities. "It's Fuwa. I need the officers from Violence Department and an ambulance here immediately at my residence."_

_"_ They're being dispatched now. Their ETA is four minutes. _"_

_"Thank you." He cut the connection off and threw Shotaro into the wall with a force that might cause a large bruise if not a concussion._

_Harufumi looked at the stunned expression on his son's face before grabbing the nearest throw from the dresser and covering the woman up. "Help is on the way," he told her gently._ _The woman nodded and shrank back inside the blanket._

_Next he dragged Shotaro out of the bedroom by his hair and out into the hallway. As he looked at his son he spat, "I don't believe you! What the hell were you thinking? Such a disgrace."_

_The younger Fuwa scoffed. "Not more than you, you slave lover."_

_Harufumi halted in his steps and gave Shotaro a very dangerous look. "What did you say?" he hissed threateningly. "I dare you to say that again."_

_"What?" Shotaro smirked. "The word 'slave lover' irritated you? Even when you know it's true, with you marrying that poor excuse of a woman and all _—"__

___—___ **MATURE GRAPHIC CONTENT END _—_**

* * *

"Is something wrong, Fuwa- _san_?" Hiroaki enquired with concern in his eyes, abruptly pulling Harufumi out of his horrible train of thoughts.

The mayor shook his head in response as well as a means to clear up his mind. "No, Ogata- _kun_ , everything's alright," he said. "Thank you for your concern."

"I was thinking of rallying up a support party," Hiroaki suddenly changed the subject. "Hopefully, when we were finally able to rally up a mass of people who were against slavery, the Parliament and the rest of the government officials would take notice and give the proposal more thoughts instead of just dismissing it."

Knowing where the conversation was going, Harufumi immediately spoke up determinedly, "And I'd be more than happy to be the first member of that support party."

A big smile spread across Hiroaki's face. "Thank you very much, Fuwa- _san_!" he exclaimed happily, bowing again in front of Harufumi.

The older man just gave him a supportive smile. _Hopefully, when all of this were over and slavery were no more, my family would be better_ , he thought with a spark of optimism in his eyes.

* * *

Miroku excitedly ran along an empty hallway before finally reaching a large, closed wooden door. Without a thought, he opened it and burst in. "You'd never guess who I saw at the hospital!"

A rather tall man with silver long hair turned around on his seat and looked at Miroku with a frown. His violet eyes shone distinctively against his pale face. "Don't you know how to knock?" he asked in irritation.

"You never give a damn, anyway," Miroku replied back. "Anyway, Reino, you'd never guess—"

"Yes, yes, I heard you the first time," Reino cut him off. "Knowing you, it must have been a ho with tight pussy and big booty."

Miroku snapped his fingers. "Close!" he said. "But no. What I was trying to say is, I saw the princess in a treatment ward, attended by a dangerous guy whom I think was one of the cops."

That caught Reino's whole attention. "You sure it's her?"

"No one else can have such a distinct pair of ochre eyes, don't you think? By the way, should we let Boss know?"

"No, not yet," Reino answered with a dangerous smirk. "Let me play with her for a bit."


	7. Chapter 7

As the crimson, heavy velvet curtain was drawn down over the grand stage, Kanae Kotonami could feel the adrenaline of her excitement slowly dieing down. Her chest, supported by a Victorian-style corset under the golden silk princess gown she wore, was heaving with relief and excitement. Sweat dampened her waist-long raven hair, which was pinned up in a bun on the back of her head.

Less than a minute ago, Kanae had lived her life as the tragic Juliet Capulet in a modern-style take of the infamous work of the Bard, Shakespeare. When she had been offered the role, she had been more than ecstatic, and at that time made a personal determination to ensure that her Juliet would not be 'just another Juliet ever played'.

From the echoing applause all over the wide hall, and the standing ovation given during the end of the play, it seemed like her hard work had not been for nothing.

"Great job, Juliet," Kevin Mendez, a man standing next to her during the curtain call, told her with a smile. "It's been an honor working with you in this production."

"Likewise, Romeo," Kanae replied with a smile before giving her grateful greetings, hugs, and kisses to other actors and staffs.

"I'm glad I wasn't wrong when I forced the producers to cast you as Juliet, Kanae," Hesione Barker, the scriptwriter of the production, whispered into Kanae's ears as they were caught in a warm embrace, elation in her eyes.

When they parted, Kanae smiled at the woman. "Thank you very much for the opportunity, Hesione. You're the best."

"And I believe there's a secret admirer waiting for you in your dressing room," Hesione replied, wiggling her eyebrows in teasing, suggestive manner. She then, seemingly out of nowhere, produced a bouquet of roses. "He left me with this to give to you. It's so nice having such a doting boyfriend."

"Haven't you already a husband?" Kanae lifted one of her eyebrows in bewilderment. She knew she had not been close with the other actors and staffs of the production, but she knew well that the writer had just been recently married.

"Aidan never gives me flowers!" Hesione whined jokingly.

"Aren't you allergic to pollen?" Kanae pointed out. "See? Your eyes are already watery and your face looks sickly red."

It took Hesione by surprise. She quickly wiped around towards a mirror to have a look at her face, only to find that Kanae was right. "How did you know?" she asked the actress in amazement.

Kanae shrugged. "Saw you once sneezing all over the flower bouquet from the sponsor. Anyway, I'd better go." She grabbed the bouquet from Hesione's hands. "I need to see what this so-called secret admirer wants."

When she opened the door of her dressing room, she did not knew whether to grin happily or to scowl in frustration. "That secret admirer of mine was _you_?!" she exclaimed in disbelief.

"The one and only," a young man standing near the vanity table grinned smugly.

Hiou Uesugi was dressed appropriately for the grand occasion — with the suit and all — and looked tall for his age, but there was no denying he was a head shorter than Kanae — not to mention, younger as well. He might have passed as a little brother of hers if people did not know better — which was usually the case.

"Congratulations for a job well done. Kanae," he said affectionately while giving her a rather awkward hug due to the difference of height, before he added, "Although I can play a better Romeo."

"Of course you can," Kanae chuckled, returning his hug. "You're a genius, after all."

It was no secret that the young man loathed being called a genius.

Hiou let out an unpleased harrumph. "I thought you knew better than to call me that, Kanae," he scolded her.

"Says the one who is still spoiled rotten by his family and proud of it," she retorted back. "I remember the one time when you threatened to make your parents fire _my_ parents when I accidentally smacked you on the head with a skillet."

"And I still have the scar from that, no thanks to you," he grumbled.

"It was an _accident_!"

"And it's not my fault my parents spoil me rotten!" Hiou exclaimed exasperatedly, before huffing a sigh. "You know what, this is pointless. Are you ready to go home?"

Startled by the sudden show of his maturity, Kanae stuttered, "Y-Yeah, sure, just— just let me get my purse."

* * *

"That was extraordinarily _marvelous_!" Julie gushed out as she walked out of the theatre. "Especially that last scene! I felt for Juliet! That actress was amazing!

Beside her, Kuon forced himself to listen to her. "Mom," he deadpanned. "Between the two of us, I think you're the only one who enjoyed it, so why don't you spare my ears?"

"Nonsense, Kuon," the woman cut him off with her deadly sparkling smile. "I know you enjoyed it as much as I did."

"Whatever," he rolled his eyes in exasperation, while he could feel the hair on his nape standing in fright. "Next time, just drag Shimona with you and leave me out of this."

Julie pouted. "I would have, if she has come home instead of staying in her dingy room of an office!"

Kuon begged to differ. Shimona's office at the National Forensic Science Department was nowhere near dingy — in fact, it was one of the most sterile places Kuon had ever been to aside from the hospital as it was compulsory. However, sensing his mother's annoyance over the medical examiner's lack of participation in what Julie deemed as 'family time', he decided then and there to suffer in silence until he dropped her home and headed to the hospital.

"By the way," Julie chirped, pulling Kuon out of his train of thoughts, "You told me that your witness was going to live with us for a while?"

"Uh, yeah," he mumbled, completely taken aback. Leave it to Julie to suddenly jump from one topic of conversation to another.

Julie's grin may have rivaled that of a Cheshire cat. "She's a girl, isn't she?" she asked excitedly. "When is she coming? How long is she staying with us? Does she have enough clothes? Because if she doesn't, I can always go and get her some—"

" _Mom_ ," he cut in sternly. "She's coming around 3 days from now unless Seijuro- _sensei_ says otherwise. She's staying for an indefinite time length, and _she's not a doll you can play dress up with_."

Her true intention being unraveled before she had even finished her sentence, Julie 'tch'-ed loudly. "You're no fun," she grumbled moodily. "I don't remember raising you to be like this, you ungrateful kid!"

"Yes, yes," he deadpanned, walking away from her without bothering to listen.

"Even though I only have half a year to live!" she cried.

That made him stop dead on his track and turned around only to find Julie sobbing. "You're not serious, right?" he tried to laugh it off, until he remembered her visits to the hospital. He had always thought that she had gone daily to visit Koo, but it might have been... "Mom, are you ill?" If she mumbled an answer within her sobs, he did not hear, which worried him more. "Does Dad know?"

There was still no answer from Julie, and Kuon panicked a little. "Mom," he grabbed her shoulders gently as if she was fragile. "I'm going to the hospital now, and you're coming with me, and we're going to see your doctor after I check on Setsuka." And he half-dragged her towards their car.

Little did he know that beneath the hands covering her wet face, Julie let out a sly, victorious grin.

* * *

"I should have known," Kuon groaned irritatedly when he and Julie reached the entrance of the hospital.

While the blonde woman snickered guiltily, Rick took his sweet time laughing out loud at the younger man. "Seriously, Kuon," he managed to blurt out between his amused cackles. "This has been like, what, the hundredth time she got you with the very same trick. When would you ever learn?"

"Shut up," Kuon snapped at him. "Is it wrong of me to worry over my own mother?"

"Of course not," Rick replied with a completely serene expression, his laughter abruptly stopped — at their side, Julie squealed giddily over her son's statement. "But I expected you to do better than that, with you already living with her for all your life."

Rolling his eyes, Kuon decided to steer the conversation to another direction before Julie and Rick could say anything that could humiliate him further. "By the way, how's she?"

"She? Oh, you mean Setsu?" Rick asked before a small frown appeared between his brows. "You know what? She's been acting pretty weird ever since she went out of the washroom."

"Weird?" Kuon repeated, raising one brow in confusion.

Rick let out a big sigh and lifted the small plastic bag he had been holding the whole time so that Kuon and Julie could see. "Do you know what's in this?"

"Of course not, Rick," the blond detective grumbled. "Quit cutting around the bush and just say what you need to say."

"What a killjoy," Rick pouted. He then put his hand into the plastic bag and lifted out the contents while saying dramatically, "This… is a hair dye." True to his words, in his hand was a box of black hair dye.

Julie frowned. "What do you need a black hair dye for, Rick?" she questioned. "Your hair is dark enough to be bordering black."

"Well," he began, "you see…"

_"Setsu!" Rick called her in surprise when he saw her staggering out of the small washroom, struggling to walk on her own two feet. "You should've called for one of us when you're finished!"_

_She gave him a small, distraught smile on her pale face, which Rick thought to have become paler, compared to before. "No, it's okay,_ Rick-san. _I can't always bother you with mundane things like taking me back to a bed not far from here."_

" _Are you kidding?" he replied jokingly with a grin. "Believe me; carrying a cute girl around is no bother at all."_ Although Tina would surely kill me if she knew I said that _, he inwardly added while outwardly laughed._

_The girl did not give him a reply. Seijuro, who was still in the room, noticed her distraught expression. "Setsuka, are you alright? Is something bothering you?"_

_Setsuka lifted her face to look at the doctor, who was staring at her with fatherly concern. Deep down, she really wanted to assure the man that she was okay, but looking at his eyes, she could not conceal the uneasiness eating her inside. "I think there's something not right with me."_

_That quickly put Seijuro on alert. "Do you still feel nauseous? Or is your head or ribs hurting?"_

" _No, I mean… Yes, my head still hurts, but it's not that…" She gulped. "Is it wrong of me to think that this appearance isn't supposed to be mine?" Seeing that Seijuro and Rick were at loss, she quickly continued. "Whenever I looked at the mirror, I couldn't help but feeling that this is not my face. But if that's true, then who am I, exactly? Even my name now is something I borrowed from someone else."_

 _Rick felt for the girl. If he were in her place, having lost his memories, he would want something definite from the past to hold onto. He could not imagine what Setsuka was feeling, having a nagging thought that her face and appearance, the only clue to unlock her past, were not hers. "Seijuro-_ sensei _?" he called the doctor questioningly, asking for his opinion._

_Seijuro skimmed through her medical record. "There doesn't seem to be any sign of alteration on the face, although it was evident that her hair was dyed." He then looked at Setsuka with a small smile. "Setsuka, can you think of anything that can make you more like yourself?"_

_She was silent in thought for a while, before confidently saying, "I want my hair black."_

"And so, I promised her to turn her hair black when I got back today," Rick finished. "According to Seijuro- _sensei_ , and that's what I could see as well, she unconsciously accessed her physical memories, which might mean that she might regain her memories soon."

Julie suddenly grabbed the plastic bag out of Rick's hand. "Let me do it," she demanded with a pair of pleading eyes. "It'll be fun, dying a girl's hair."

"Sure," Rick replied. "Although at first we thought we would ask a nurse to do it, if you're willing, then why not, Julie?"

She squealed in excitement, and Kuon found himself rolling his eyes for the second time of the day. As they neared Setsuka's room, he noticed someone standing in front of the door, his hand reached out towards the knob.

"Excuse me," Kuon called out, startling the mysterious man. "Do you have any business in this room? Unauthorized individuals are prohibited here."

The man turned around, retracting his hand away from the knob, and Kuon could finally made out his face clearly. The man was fairly tall, although still not as tall as him or Rick. His piercing violet eyes, a color Kuon seldom saw, were accentuated by his pale skin and the silver mane that reached between his shoulder blades. Although his hands were placed inside the pocket of his leather black trench coat, Kuon could see the sharp nails that resembled claws.

"Ah, I beg your pardon," the unidentified man said with a non-genuine smile. "I thought this was my friend's room." And with that he turned around and walked away before disappearing at the corner of the hallway.

Kuon frowned as his jade eyes followed the man. "Rick," he said, his eyes not moving away from the spot, "call Yashiro and ask him to provide more surveillance for Setsuka until she's discharged and moved into our house."

"Eh?" Rick looked surprised. "Is anything wrong?"

"No… It's just that," Kuon sported an uneasy look as he turned away from the mysterious man's trail, "After I saw that creepy man, I just had a bad feeling."

* * *

"So what do you think, Reino?" Miroku asked.

Reino let out a sly smirk. "It's her, alright. Too bad she's guarded by the police's dogs."

"What if she's ranting on us?"

"Not happening," Reino dismissed Miroku's worry. "Didn't you hear what the cops called her? They called her Setsuka, which actually made me want to laugh. Amnesia, they said?" And with that, he chuckled manically. "Out of all people, for _her_ to lose her memories… This is getting interesting."

"You know," Miroku began casually, "now that you think of it, it's kinda funny that a woman as cunning as she is can be reduced to a helpless, innocent girl."

Reino chuckled again. "Isn't it? Now she looks more like a lost little lamb cowering in fear of the wolves. Although I like her old self more…" He licked his lips in excitement.

"Here we go again," Miroku laughed. "You and your impossible obsession of the princess."

"I can't help it," the silver-haired man said in his defense. "She's like a black rose; beautiful yet dangerous… So dangerous that it sends chills through my spine…"

* * *

Kanae's rather large house was completely dark when she and Hiou parked his car in front of the narrow gate.

For other people, such a sight might be considered normal, for it was already late at night and normally people would have been asleep already at such hour. But unfortunately, Kanae knew better than that.

Inserting her card key into the slot on the entrance door, she raked through her mind for any memory of her siblings and their children having anything to do until this late, like a birthday party of a friend, or a sudden out-of-town vacation (yes, her family liked things to be as last minute as possible), but it was futile. And it made her stand more on her toes in a non-literal sense.

The door creaked horribly, breaking the deafening silence.

"Hello?" Kanae yelled as she stepped into the threshold, Hiou close by her side. "Anybody home? Kouta? Chise? Anyone?"

She wondered if there was a hidden camera nearby, ready to capture the moment her family scaring her in the dark for a gag show.

"Hmm… It's rare that they're not home," Hiou commented as he looked around. "By the way, where's the switch?"

"To your left," she answered.

There was the sound of Hiou fumbling around, then a crash — Kanae guessed he knocked over the flower vase placed near the switch — and his not-so-muted curse. And the light suddenly blared, blinding her.

What she saw after her eyes adjusted made her scream louder than she imagined herself capable of.

Mixture of dry and not-so-fresh blood splattered on the walls and flooded the floor, filling the whole house with pungent smell. Kanae felt sick she wanted to vomit, yet what she saw written in large characters on the wall made her want to die instead.

"Kanae!" Hiou yelled out as he reached her side in fright. "What happened?"

"My family," she mumbled, her body shivering in terror. "They were taken." And he turned to look at what her eyes were transfixed at.

' _ **A LITTLE PAYMENT FOR YOUR DEBTS'**_

* * *

No matter how much Seijuro tried to prod, Setsuka could not explain why she had been so anxious ever since she had seen her reflection in the mirror.

The girl staring back at her that time had felt like her, yet at the same time another feeling nagged at her heart, telling her that it wasn't her and making her anxious. And she could not explain what exactly that feeling was.

The term she felt to be close enough would be 'hate'.

But why in the world would she hate her own face, albeit bruised and wounded here and there?

When Seijuro had asked her for a thing that could offer her comfort over the matter, she honestly had no idea why an image of a younger her with long black hair in pigtails and a bright smile had flitted through her mind. As she pondered on it, she envied that girl that looked like she had no care of the strive going on in the world. And that girl looked more like her.

Thus the request for the black hair. And that pretty much solved her anxiety over what she considered right for her appearance, other than for her to wait for her short hair to grow.

Setsuka was suddenly startled out of her thoughts when Seijuro appeared before her vision. She blinked a couple of times, focusing to her room, to see the doctor putting a small pile of tidily folded clothes.

"They were my daughter Setsuka's clothes," he explained to her with a gentle smile. "Although I'm not sure it will fit you, though. She had a very slender build, after all."

"What was Setsuka like?" she asked out of curiosity. Suddenly, the life story of her namesake seemed to be interesting.

Seijuro chuckled before breathing in. "She was a phlegmatic child, so to speak," he began. "Setsu was extremely stoic, although playful in the inside. She cared about nothing except the newest fashion trend and Cain."

"Cain?" the chestnut-haired girl tilted her head to the side in an enquiring manner.

"Her brother, my oldest son," Seijuro answered. "Their mother and I divorced when they were young, and Catherine, my ex-wife, took them both with her to her hometown in Britania. She raised them as a single mother, but it was difficult, you see. Catherine was always away for work, so Cain and Setsu practically raised each other — maybe that was why they could not live without each other.

"They were together even in their last moments," he sighed mourningly. "The plane flying them here was hijacked by illegal slave traders, something went wrong and it exploded, leaving no survivor."

Setsuka felt a pang in her chest, empathizing with the man. "I'm sorry to hear that," she murmured painfully.

"Don't be," Seijuro said, smiling again albeit sadly. "They were happy together, and I believe they were happy even in death. But thank you for asking about Setsu."

A knock on the door caught their attention, and next, Rick, Kuon, and a woman they did not recognize entered the room. However, after a brief scanning, they concluded that she must be Kuon's mother, or at least a close family member.

"I'm back, Setsu!" Rick greeted cheerfully while Kuon and Julie greeted the doctor in the background. "Look what I have here! As promised: the black hair dye and the person who's going to dye your hair!"

"Rick," the blonde woman pouted, placing both her hands on her hips. "Please. I'm not an object." She then turned and looked at Setsuka. "So, this is the girl?"

"The one and only," Rick grinned. "Setsu, Seijuro- _sensei_ , let me introduce you to Julie Hizri, Kuon's mom, although it should've been obvious enough."

Setsuka eyed her warily only to be suddenly glomped down onto her bed by the older woman, shocking Kuon out of his mind. "Mom!" he shrieked. "What the heck are you doing?!"

"She's so cute!" Julie squealed. "I'm definitely going to have fun today! That black hair will certainly match those amber eyes of yours."

The image of the little girl with long black hair and amber eyes fleeted Kuon's mind again.

"Mrs. Hizri," Seijuro cleared his throat in a menacing tone, "Can you please get off my patient first before you re-break her ribs?"

"Oops," Julie mumbled in surprise, getting off the recuperating girl. "I'm sorry, my dear. Did I hurt you?"

Still too shocked to speak, Setsuka shook her head negative, relieving Julie and Seijuro.

As the blonde woman tried to engage the girl into a talk, Kuon and Rick approached the doctor. "Seijuro- _sensei_ ," Kuon began restlessly, "did someone enter this room before we came in? Like a tall man in black with silver hair and violet eyes?"

"No," Seijuro replied confidently. "I was in the room with Setsuka the whole time today, since I'm having a day off, and while I wasn't in the room," he suddenly lowered his voice into a whisper, glancing sideways towards Setsuka, "The room was locked. This room is equipped with an automatic lock that can only be opened by a staff pass issued by the hospital, and the room automatically detect the presence of the pass in the room before inactivating the self-lock of the door. So I'm sure nobody went in. Why are you asking?"

Kuon considered this new detail in silence before asking further. "Do the nurses have the pass as well?"

"Only to specific places. For this room, however, only my pass is registered, so I have to be in first before the nurses can go in."

"Does a man with silver hair, violet eyes, and leather black trench coat ring a bell to you?" Rick inquired.

Seijuro hummed while in thought. "I don't know about the silver hair and violet eyes, but the leather black coat does remind me of someone. He's not one of my patients, though, so I can't help you with more."

"Do you know who handles him?" Kuon asked, completely alert to the new possible suspect.

"Well," the doctor shrugged. "That man always looks like a dangerous one, so I'm pretty sure the other GPs stay away from him. If there were one crazy enough to deal with him, it would be Kurosaki, I think."

* * *

"I'm begging you, _please_!" Kanae screamed from her _dogeza_ position as tears streamed down her cheeks, Hiou looking at her worriedly by her side. "I will return however much we owed you, but _please_ , don't sell them as slaves!"

The man sitting on a love seat before them eyed them with a hollow pair of eyes colored like dried blood. "And how long do you think you have owed us that large sum? Do you think my patience won't wear thin?" he asked in a deep baritone that was enough to chilled Hiou to the bone.

"I know, but _please_!" Kanae cried out in desperation, her fear only for her family. "At least not the children!"

"For your information, I don't do free trading," the man said. "How much are you offering for their freedom?"

"I offer myself," she answered with no hesitation, shocking Hiou. "That should suffice for 10 children, shouldn't it?"

The man mulled over her over, eyeing Hiou once in a while in a calculating manner. "Not enough," he said coldly then.

Kanae could feel her heart breaking to pieces at that, and Hiou could as well. He stood up confidently, glaring at the man hatefully. "Count me into the exchange," the young man almost growled.

"Hiou!" Kanae screamed in fright. "What the heck are you thinking?!"

"Kanae, both you and I know that we could never leave this place once we're in," Hiou told her with a smile, hoping to alleviate some of her distress.

"I told you to leave!"

"And leaving you alone here? Not a chance. I'm staying with you."

"Excellent," the man purred in delight, swirling the wine in the flute he was holding leisurely. "And I already have an excellent idea of what to do with you two."


	8. Chapter 8

"I should have brought some chapstick for you lips," Julie said while she and Setsuka stood in front of the mirror in the small washroom adjacent to the younger girl's room. "They've chapped a lot, and it must be extremely painful."

The girl, much to Julie's delight, gave a small smile. "It's not as bad as it seems, but yes, it is rather irritating."

"Isn't it?" the older woman replied with vigor. "You have to be extremely careful not to agitate the loose skin too much or else it'll bleed, and it stings a lot when it gets wet. Just remind me or Kuon or Rick to bring you something to soothe it, okay? Or better yet, just ask for some Vaseline from the nurses."

"They've applied some ointment to them," Setsuka told her. "But it's so waxy and makes me uncomfortable."

Julie hummed a bit in thought. "The uncomfortable feeling might have been the sign that it seeped into the tissue, but in most times, it indicates that whatever they applied to your lips was working. Tell me or Kuon if it still discomforts you, and we'll bring you something else."

"Oh no," the injured girl shook her head with a small disapproving frown. She pointed weakly at her hair. "I cannot possibly inconvenience you more than this."

"An inconvenience? Of course not," Julie scoffed in disagreement. "I never had a daughter of my own, and the only girl close to a daughter for me never likes make-up. Do you want to disappoint this old, lonely lady?"

Setsuka was taken aback as guilt started to form in her heart. Julie smiled adoringly at her. "Let me take care of you, Sweetheart. We're going to live together, after all, and I consider anyone living under my roof to be family."

"Living together?" the girl repeated in confusion.

Julie blinked at her. "You mean they haven't told you yet?" the blonde asked, only to receive a negative confirmation from Setsuka. Julie clucked her tongue in disapproval, grumbling under her breath, "Those boys! I can't believe they chose not to tell you something this important."

The older woman continued smearing black dye onto Setsuka's chestnut locks, humming a tune that turned into a whole song.

"What is that song?" Setsuka asked abruptly, startling Julie who stopped the tune she had hummed.

Julie laughed softly and replied, "It's a lullaby that has been taught to everyone in my family. My mother sang it to me, and her mother did the same, and I'm also sure she was taught by my great-grandmother. Why do you ask?"

The young girl shook her head lightly, a small, rueful smile curving her chapped lips. "It just felt nostalgic. I feel as if I heard that song sung to me every time I fell asleep…" She then closed her eyes, and let the room fall into a comfortable silence as Julie worked on her hair.

* * *

Kuon, Rick, and Seijuro turned their heads towards the door of Setsuka's room when they heard a knock. The doctor opened the door to reveal Yashiro, who was accompanied by two other policemen Kuon did not recognize.

"More surveillance, as you requested," the bespectacled detective told Rick and Kuon. "On top of that, I requested the installation of a 24-hour surveillance camera installed at the front entrance and in this room. They will be connected to our terminals at the precinct.

"Murasame and Kijima have volunteered to take the night shift and keep their eyes on the monitor, and you and Kuon," he looked at Rick, "have already holed yourselves up here during the day while you're not at the precinct, so we pretty much have the security issue covered."

Rick gave Yashiro a thumbs-up with a jovial grin. "Perfect as usual, Yashiro."

"If only we had that perfection during that raid," Yashiro grumbled with a pout. "Everything was ruined because of that pompous brat. Thanks to him, 3 souls are lost to us."

Deciding to ignore Yashiro's irritation regarding the young Fuwa, Kuon addressed the general practitioner standing next to him. "When can you discharge Setsuka?"

"The day after tomorrow, if nothing else goes wrong," Seijuro answered. "Although of course, there is a chance she will need to come back here for rehabilitation and an occasional check-up. Other than that, she's free to go. Do you police have any plan on where she's going after this?"

"My house," the blond replied to the curious doctor, believing that Seijuro did not mean any malice with the question. "I have your contact number, so if anything goes wrong with her health, I'll make sure that you're on speed-dial."

Seijuro nodded and moved to leave the room when Kuon spoke up. "One more question, Sensei."

"Yes?" the GP questioned with a smile.

"I'm just wondering where I can see this Kurosaki you told us about," the young detective asked. "I believe we need to pay him a visit."

Before Seijuro could answer, the door of the adjacent washroom opened to reveal Setsuka. Her short chestnut hair was now a lovely ebony, which framed her heart-shaped face and accentuated her amber eyes. She gave the men in the room a shy smile, and Kuon felt his lower jaw drop in surprise. A memory suddenly fleeted across his mind.

_**"Kuon," Koo began with a ridiculously gentle manner the young boy had never seen — well, his father was a gentle soul, and Kuon had never thought Koo could act gentler than he usually did. "I brought a new friend for you."** _

_**The older man turned his head around, directing the boy's attention to someone standing behind Koo, whom the blond boy had not noticed before. Koo smiled softly. "It's okay, Doll, he doesn't bite."** _

_**That ticked Kuon off just a bit; fortunately, his curiosity won out. He leaned a bit to his right to have a peek of who was hiding behind his father.** _

_**His eyes widened when he saw a little girl, a bit younger than him, fidgeting with Koo's denim pants. Her lustrous black hair was pulled into two low pigtails that rested near her ears, and Kuon had never seen someone with skin so white.** _

_**That only left the rose-red lips to establish the girl's identity as Snow White, Kuon thought at that time. A second later, he inwardly trampled on that idea, for he did not want to be seen as a sucker for fairy tales. He was a big boy, after all, and a big boy did not believe in fairies, princesses, and Prince Charming.** _

_**Koo rested his big hand on the girl's tiny shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "He's my son, Darling," he told her. "I'm sure he'd love to be your friend."** _

_**"A… friend?" the girl squeaked, as if she was not familiar with the term.** _

_**"Someone you can play and have fun with," the older man explained.** _

_**The little girl was quiet for some time, and then she lifted up her face to look at Kuon, showing the boy her gleaming amber eyes and a shy smile.** _

"You look lovely, Setsu!" Rick decided to break the awkward silence — and Kuon from his stupor— by complementing the girl with his trademark jovial grin, slapping Kuon hard on the back as he approached Setsuka. "Black hair definitely suits you!"

"Do you feel more like yourself now?" Seijuro asked his patient in a fatherly tone, smiling at her.

Setsuka nodded, smiling meekly back at the doctor with a slight blush on her cheeks.

Meanwhile, unnoticed by everyone in the room, Julie eyed the girl warily.

* * *

Lory found himself unable to say anything when he sat with his granddaughter sitting on his lap, bawling her eyes out.

"I'm sorry I missed your birthday, Maria," he muttered weakly after a while as he stroked her back, hoping the motion would help calm the girl down. "I promise it won't happen again."

Seeing his attempt to soothe her had failed, Lory sighed. "I tell you what," he whispered in desperation, "I'll take you to 'Kimagure Rock Land', and we can spend the whole day there to make up for two days ago, okay?"

Maria shook her head. "I don't care about that anymore," she sobbed heartbrokenly. "Where's Father, Grandfather?"

His heart shattered at that. Lory could feel a lump in his throat as he struggled for more words that could put Maria at ease. "…I don't know, Sweetheart," he choked out.

"Why don't you ask your subordinates to look for him?" she whimpered. "Aren't you the chief of police?"

"Maria," Lory began slowly, "there are other cases that need more of their attention, and I can't abuse my authority as their chief to prioritize my needs, do you get that? I do want to bark at them to look for Kouki, but—"

"Then bark at them," the girl innocently cut him off with a pout.

The older Takarada gave her a wry smile. "Didn't I say that I can't abuse my authority?"

"But something bad might have happened to Father!"

"Have faith in your father," Lory said soothingly. "Kouki is a strong man, and he never breaks his promise. He promised to come back and celebrate your birthday, right? I have no doubt he's doing everything he can to come home and congratulate you, even if it's late for him. Alright?"

The little girl nodded weakly. "But you will search for him soon, won't you?"

Lory hesitated for a bit and smiled confidently. "I promise."

* * *

"First of all, let's start with the basics," Kijima told a well-endowed girl with thick, long black hair sitting face to face with him. Murasame stood at the corner of the interrogation room, staring at the two stoically, but his ears were ready to pick something up. "What do you call yourself?"

The girl kept silent, although her eyes widened in wonder. Seeing that, Kijima could not help but pity her. All slaves were rid of their possessions, and in extreme cases, some were stripped of their names. This girl might have been a perfect example of the latter.

"For fuck's sake, girl," Murasame snapped after the girl did not say anything for a while. "Just tell us your name! Ain't that easy?"

"Murasame!" Kijima scolded him, before turning back to the girl. "Sorry about that," he apologized gently with a small, sheepish smile on behalf of his colleague, "Just ignore that guy; he was raised as a barbarian in an isolated village on the heights of a mountain unreached by civilization. Sadly, they lacked the population of women to learn how to deal with any lady here in town."

His attempt at a joke brought a small giggle from the girl — and a burning glare from Murasame. "But if there were no women there, how was he born?" she asked in a whisper.

Kijima grinned. "How I love that smile," he told the girl, earning him a blush — in the background, Murasame coughed something that sounded like 'Asshole'. "So, what can we call you?"

"I used to be called Mimori," she said. "But it's been a long time."

"Alright, Mimori." Kijima nodded while he picked up his notes. "I was told you were brought here for shelter by Mayor Fuwa, is that correct?"

With her face suddenly turning somber, Mimori could only nod in response.

"And your owner was his son, Shotaro Fuwa, right?"

Another nod.

"Did he do anything that hurt you?" he asked cautiously, paying extra attention to the change in the girl's gestures.

Mimori stiffened, and he could see her hands clenching into fists.

"That's a dumb question, Kijima," Murasame piped in. "We read the reports; she was ra—"

"As I said before," Kijima cut him off, "a barbarian. Feel free to ignore him, Mimori." He then turned to the other guy with a disapproving scowl. "And here you're wondering why Keyes steered clear of you."

"Shut up!" Murasame snapped for the second time since they had entered the small room, this time with a bright red flush on his face. "We're here to interrogate this girl, not to discuss my love life!"

"Which is undeniably nonexistent," the flirt of the two could not help but add with a smirk.

"I said shut up!"

The smile was back on Mimori's face, before she grew somber again and took a deep breath. "I was purchased around four days ago," she started slowly.

Kijima's and Murasame's ears perked up at that. "Four days ago?" the former of the two asked. "So you were handled by Ginta Furuya in an auction near the pier?"

"Ginta Furuya?" Mimori repeated in confusion. "There was only Gin."

"He's the one," Kijima confirmed. "So, by any chance, did you recognize a Chiori?"

She lifted her head. "Is she safe?" she asked worriedly.

"She's okay," he grinned. "Did you also recognize a girl with short chestnut hair and amber eyes?"

"Of course!" she exclaimed. "After all, she protected Chiori and me from being whipped by Gin!"

Kijima frowned a little. "Can you tell us more about her?"

"S-sure," Mimori stuttered, taken aback by the interrogator's sudden interest in her friend. "She didn't mention her name, but I recall someone that arrived with her didn't like her much."

That puzzled Kijima. "Why?" he asked. "Why didn't other people like her, if she was kind to others? Well, at least, Chiori said she was kind."

"She was," Mimori nodded assuringly. "But they said she was a snob, just because she was the favorite of the 'Daddy'. They called her ' _Benibarahime_ ' once, but I'm sure that's not her name."

"Did they call her anything else?" Kijima pursued.

The girl frowned in concentration, trying to rake her memories. "I might be wrong," she murmured, "but I think they also called her ' _Nisehime_ '."

Kijima's frown deepened at that. "A fake princess…?"

* * *

From what Seijuro had said about the other doctor, Kuon had conjured some image of Ushio Kurosaki. But that entire image was ruined when he met the man face to face—

—For Ushio Kurosaki was definitely not whom Kuon would call a gentle doctor with a patience like a saint that could handle even the worst hoodlums. Instead, the blond believed thatthe doctor might have been a part of the mafia himself.

"Ah," Kurosaki muttered casually, raising a hand in greeting towards Kuon. "I've been looking forward to meeting you for quite some time, Cousin."

The detective had to do a double take. What had Kurosaki just called him again?

In the end, Kuon concluded that it must have been his fatigue. He would definitely apply for leave after Setsuka was discharged and brought safely to his home.

"Ushio Kurosaki, correct?" he decided to begin as professionally as possible. "I am Kuon Hizri—"

"From the National Police Agency, I know," Kurosaki finished for him. "So what do you need from me? Is it info on Whip-lover Gin?"

The blond was taken aback. "How do you—" he choked.

"Who do you think your tipper was?" Kurosaki asked. "It was me; Shimona asked me if I knew any big event related to any human trafficking activity, since I handle a lot of people doing illegal business. And by a stroke of luck one idiot decided to blab about the auction to one of my airhead nurse—"

"Hang on," Kuon butted in. "You know Shimona?"

Kurosaki raised an eyebrow in a manner that asked 'Are you fucking kidding me?' at Kuon's outburst. "Of course I know her," he said matter-of-factly, "She's my girlfriend after all."

Kuon had to take some time to let that sink in, before he deemed himself calm enough to continue. He had to stick to the purpose of this visit with Kurosaki. "Right, she never tells us, so we don't exactly know… In any case, we can go back to this Whip-lover Gin later. Right now I want to talk about someone with a black leather trench coat."

"Black leather trench coat, huh…" the doctor mumbled. "You might be talking about Miroku."

"Miroku…?" the blond repeated.

"He's pretty famous here," Kurosaki elaborated. "To be honest, he's a total pain in my ass, but everyone knows he's rumored to be involved in a big syndicate, so they all steer clear. I still have my conscience as a doctor, you know, so I can't just let him be. And by the way, he was the idiot who blabbed to my nurse."

Kuon took that last statement into consideration. "So this Miroku is related to the auction a few days ago?"

"Most likely." The other man shrugged. "Well, if you want me to, I can talk to my sources; find out some more dirt about him."

"Why do you do this?" Kuon suddenly asked in curiosity. "From the way you talk about it, I'm pretty sure you've been digging around even before Shimona asked you for help."

Kurosaki smirked. "Let's just say that I have a personal vendetta against them. So? Do you still want me to help?"

* * *

With a determined expression, Julie stood at the entrance of the Neopolis Genetic Research and Analysis Institute, her right hand clenched hard into a fist on her chest.

She watched as the automatic sliding door opened, and Shimona burst out of the building, still clad in her lab coat. "What is this urgent matter you wanted to talk to me about, Aunt Julie?" the younger woman asked worriedly.

"I need to ask you for a favor," Julie said in a serious tone. She extended her clenched hand towards Shimona and opened her fist to reveal a heart-shaped pendant made of resin, along with an old, sweet memory.

_**The smell of her favorite lavenders, roses, and lilies surrounded Julie as she stood in the middle of her small backyard garden under the warmth of the sun, calming her from her fatigue. She decided to wrap up her gardening when she heard a sweet voice.** _

_**"Momma! Momma!" a black-haired little girl called out as the glass door connected to the living room slid open.** _

_**"What is it, Sweetie?" Julie asked with a smile.** _

_**"This is for you, Momma," the girl smiled happily, offering Julie the heart-shaped pendant. "Daddy helped me make it, and with this, you can have a part of me with you! So this way I can always be close to Momma!"** _

_**" What are you saying? No matter what happens you'll always be close to me. Never forget that, my dear," Julie said softly to the girl.** _

_**Her amber eyes widened and she looked back at Julie. "I promise I won't, Momma"** _

_**"That's very good. Now give Momma a kiss," she said and the girl placed one on her cheek.** _

The blonde mother smiled fondly remembering that bittersweet moment.

Unaware of Julie's trip down memory lane, Shimona took the pendant and inspected it. The heart-shaped plastic was thick, but as clear as pure water with a few small bubbles in the interior. In the core of the pendant was a very small daffodil on top of a small lock of black hair.

"What do you want me to do with this?" Shimona asked in confusion.

"Analyze that hair and compare it with Setsuka," Julie said. " You're leading the genetic investigation into that girl, right?"

Shimona raised an eyebrow, completely puzzled by her aunt's sudden request. "Yes, but what—"

"Please, Shimona," Julie pleaded again. "This is important to me and Koo. Please, I beg you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glossary:
> 
> Benibarahime: red rose princess  
> Nisehime: fake princess


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: A little lime and an extreme OOC somewhere in this chapter. If you are easily affected by even the slightest sexual content, or if you do not like OOCs, do not read the part where Miroku made a scene. You have been warned.

The next day, Inspector Seiji Shingai wondered how he ended up staring at bloody handwriting on a wall. He remembered that his day had started with the prodigy child-actor, Hiou Uesugi, reported missing by his extremely worried family. Shingai had been a long-time fan of the Uesugi family, so his being very annoyed with their demand of finding Hiou within the day was definitely saying something.

And as he tuned out the family of actors, he wondered why he, the inspector of the 1st Division had to deal with the case for the 4th Division.

A call about a possible homicide saved the inspector from being further hounded by the desperate parents and grandparents. Feeling more comfortable with doing something familiar within his field – he was a homicide detective after all – he immediately went to the home of the Kotonami family and found a very distraught Hesione Barker.

"I was trying to reach Kanae by phone, wondering if she wanted to grab lunch with me," she explained. "But I could only reach her voicemail, which has never happened before. So it got me worried and I came here to see if she was okay, but the door was unlocked and when I went in…"

The writer could not finish her sentence, and Shingai could see that she was shocked. When he saw the bloody writing on the wall, he quickly sympathized with Hesione.

"One of the neighbors stated that a _coupe_ stopped in front of the house at around 11 pm," someone reported, startling Shingai from his musings. "The car was parked for only a short time, and the lights of the house were lit, before the car sped off."

The inspector turned around to see Marina standing next to him, her eyes eyeing the bloody writing in distaste.

"How fast?" Shingai teased with a smirk.

"Enough to make a skid mark on the street," the chief of Forensic Department replied without looking at him. "It seems like whoever was driving suddenly floored once he got into the car and started it, which means that he was in a hurry.

"By the way, I tried talking to Mrs. Barker earlier after she calmed down. Apparently Kanae Kotonami left the theatre with Hiou Uesugi at around 10 pm, and Hiou was the one bringing the car."

Shingai frowned. "So you think Hiou's disappearance is related to this?"

"Beats me." Marina shrugged. "The one thing that is still puzzling me to no end is," she waved her hand grimly towards the writing. "The perpetrator drew a lot of blood to do something this sick, yet he didn't leave a single body. What's the purpose of doing that?"

"Have you analyzed the blood?" he asked.

"It's still in the lab. Trust me, this waiting isn't easy."

Shingai chuckled lightly at Marina's distress before looking back at the writing. "Say," he mused, "how many people are in the Kotonami family?"

"Including the children?" she replied with an amused look on her face. "Enough to make two soccer teams with spare players. Why are you asking?"

"That many people and everyone is missing," he mumbled. "Now I think I know what's going on here."

Marina crossed her arms and let out a sigh before looking curiously at the inspector. "Care to enlighten me?"

"What comes to your mind when you connect people missing and debts?" Shingai asked with a low voice, definitely hoping that his conclusion was not what had happened to Kotonami family and Hiou.

Realization dawned on Marina. "Reaping..." She then shook her head in doubt. "You think someone would be bold enough to kidnap 22 people in one go for trafficking?"

"Then can you suggest any other plausible possibility?" Shingai challenged grimly.

Marina helplessly only looked at Shingai, reluctantly agreeing with him.

* * *

The room was silent except for the whir of the air conditioner. Kuon found himself appreciating the silence. The last few days had been hectic for him, and he could surely use some rest.

He was sitting on a chair next to Setsuka's hospital bed while the girl snoozed. Seijuro had spoken to him earlier when he had reached the hospital, informing him that Setsuka was clear to be discharged. Tomorrow, Kuon would bring her to his home.

His jade eyes were fixed on her face. The wounds glared red against her pale white skin and now black short hair that fanned across her pillow, but Seijuro had assured him that they would fade with proper treatment. And of course, Julie had vowed to do everything she could to make sure that they would not leave any permanent scar. Then his gaze landed on the girl's still chapped lips.

Absent-mindedly, he reached for a vial of beeswax from the nightstand and applied some of the oily balm gently onto her lower lip with his fingers. Once finished, he closed the vial and sat back, a small smile on his face. Somehow, he could not help feeling nostalgic after taking care of Setsuka.

_**Kuon was diligently working on his homework from school when his door banged open and the little black-haired girl came in sobbing.** _

_**"Kuon!" she cried in pain.** _

_**Startled, he jumped out of his chair and immediately kneeled in front of her. "What happened?" he asked worriedly.** _

_**"I slipped down the stairs," she explained with tears still freely flowing down her cheeks, "and I accidentally** **bit my lip. It hurts!"** _

_**Relief ran through him.** _ **She's okay _, he silently thanked God and ruffled her hair. "You'll be okay," he assured her. "Come here! I know how to make it better."_**

_**He guided her towards the bathroom that housed the first-aid kit. Once she settled down on a small stool near the sink, the boy inspected her lip.** _

_**"It's bleeding a little," he informed her and wet a ball of cotton with disinfectant. "Press this on your lip."** _

_**Kuon then took the vial of beeswax stored in the box. He remembered his mother applying this to his battered lips when he had been involved in a fight — someone else had started it. When they punched his lower jaw, it had caused him to bite his lip. To be honest, he did not like it — the substance tasted so weird — but he recalled his lips getting better faster.  
** _

_**Carefully, he applied the balm onto the girl's lips, minding the small cut. Kuon then closed the vial and put it back into the box. "Now for the most important thing; I'm going to cast a magic spell so that it heals faster!"** _

_**"Magic spell?" she asked curiously.** _

_**"Pain, pain, go away!" he chanted, before he leaned down and pecked her on the lips. "Now you'll be fine—"** _

"—Kyoko," he finished, leaning away from her face.

It took him around five seconds to realize the predicament he was in. His feet were still on the ground, but his torso covered her slumbering form, and his face was only millimeters away from hers. He could feel her breath across his face, and the feel of her lips on his.

Kuon jerked away immediately. Blushing heavily, he stared at her while one of his fists covered his mouth. _Did I just kiss her?_ He screamed inwardly.

Setsuka kept sleeping peacefully, which somehow brought him relief. He definitely would not know what to say if the girl was awake and started questioning his behavior. Then, another thought came to him. _Who's Kyoko? Is it that little girl? And I called Setsuka by that name… What if she heard me calling her that while kissing her? What should I do then?_

The door suddenly opened, startling him, and in came Yashiro. "I brought you your lunch, Hizri," the bespectacled man informed him nonchalantly, showing him the takeaway box in the plastic bag.

"Uh, thank you," Kuon replied, inwardly praying that the other man would not notice his persistent blush. "Yashiro, would you mind standing guard here for a while? I need a smoke."

"Not at all," Yashiro answered easily, immediately leaning against the wall near the door. "But where's Rick?"

"Tina felt sick last night, so he's accompanying her to the doctor," the blond answered.

Yashiro shrugged. "Alright," he said. "Go ahead; I'll stay here."

Nodding his head towards the brunet, Kuon almost sprinted out of the room.

The room was silent again when Yashiro remembered. _Wait a sec_ , he thought, _Hizri doesn't smoke_.

* * *

Kurosaki was not pleased at all to see Miroku at his door, sporting a wound on his head. "I thought I made it clear the last time that I don't want to see your fucking face again for the rest of my life."

The long-haired man, clad as usual in a black leather trench coat, only laughed at his remark, and the doctor could feel one of his veins popping out. "That's it." Kurosaki stood up abruptly from his seat and walked briskly towards the door. "I'm outta here. Either you start taking better care of yourself, or you can die a painful, very slow death. Ruriko, you can have him if you want to."

The door closed with a loud thud after him.

The nurse that had been standing beside Kurosaki's desk could only shake her head in exasperation. "What a doctor," she mused, before turning her gaze towards Miroku. "But he was right, Miroku-san. It's a miracle you haven't died after being in situations that require you being sent here numerous times."

"You think I like getting hurt?" Miroku scoffed as he grabbed Ruriko by her waist and brought her closer to him, their faces only a breath away from each other. "I only do it to see you, gorgeous," he murmured into her ear.

Ruriko blushed at that, before she let out a small moan when Miroku trailed kisses on her jaw and neck. His hands wandered down her back and settled on her butt.

"You know," he whispered against her neck, enjoying the sounds he elicited from her, "I have to attend this art exhibition two days from now, and I am kinda hoping that you'd want to come with me as my date."

"I- I'm not that interested in art- ah!" Ruriko gasped in pleasure when his hand moved down to her thigh and up again beneath her skirt, his fingers rubbing against her crotch which was covered by her panties.

"Trust me, this one's different," Miroku assured her. "They're exhibiting what they call 'living art', something contemporary and absolutely rare. So? What do you say?"

Unknown to the two of them, behind the closed door, Kurosaki smirked in triumph. _Bingo_.

* * *

"So you believe the disappearance of Hiou Uesugi and the Kotonami family is the result of a reaping, am I getting you correctly?" Lory enquired slowly.

Shingai looked at the Chief of Police with a determined look on his face. "Yes Sir," he replied. "This is why I suggest passing this case to Hizri's team. They are better-versed in similar cases, so—"

"No," the older man cut the inspector off. "You are saying that based only on your assumption. There's not enough evidence to prove that these two cases are indeed related to each other and are results of a reaping. So until there is evidence that proves so, I won't approve these two cases being sent to Hizri's team."

"But, Sir—"

"Shingai," Lory spoke in a gentle manner. "I do agree that this might be a reaping, but above all, we need evidence. Everyone is currently busy with their own investigation, Hizri's team is more so due to their successful raid the other day; we can't burden them more. Is that understood?"

Shingai scowled in dissatisfaction, but he gave Lory a salute. "Yes, Sir."

* * *

"There's another tip from a trusted source," Kuon said during the meeting of his team at the precinct. "There's going to be an auction two days from now. According to the info, a new modus operandi will be used."

"Artistic cryogenic preservation?" Murasame read from his handout. "What the heck is that?"

Shimona rolled her eyes in irritation. Everything about Murasame just did not sit well with her. "It's just as the name said: cryogenic preservation," she explained. "The body is immersed in cryogenic solution to deep-freeze it. However, in artistic cryogenic preservation, the freezing is done in such a way that the person being frozen is still alive, and the freezing can be undone anytime. Furthermore, the body is usually positioned in artistic ways; thus the name."

"Is that even possible?" Kijima frowned. "Cryogenic preservation is named that way because it preserves every bit of the tissues by contact with cryogenic agents, which makes the cells stop functioning permanently once they are frozen."

"My best guess is that there is some anti-freezing agent injected into the bloodstream at a very high concentration, or the freezing is precisely controlled so that only the skin and hair freeze… I'm not sure myself," the sole ME of the group answered.

"Is it similar to the one we saw in 'Star Wars'?" Yashiro chipped in.

Everyone in the room looked at the bespectacled man. "You watched 'Star Wars'?" Kijima asked in disbelief. "Yashiro, how old are you?"

Yashiro blushed heavily. "Well, my parents like very old movies," he confessed. "And I watched one film together with them. There was a part where this character was immersed into a tube with steam like dry ice, and then he came out completely frozen. My parents told me that on the next film, he was freed. So is it similar to this 'artistic cryogenic preservation'?"

Shimona felt sweat dropping on her scalp. "While I've never watched 'Star Wars', I think that's the basic idea of what we're talking about."

"That way, people won't notice and just see them as sculptures, huh?" Rick mumbled. "As much as I hate to say this, it's very creative. So where is the auction this time?"

"That's the problem," Kuon grumbled. "Our source wasn't able to confirm the place. That's where our own investigation comes in. Look for any rumors of an art exhibition or auction happening two days from now; from there, hopefully we can pinpoint a place."

Kijima smirked. "No need for that," he said. "The only art exhibition going on within this week is only the one held at the banquet hall of the Neopolis Royal Hotel. My girlfriend's father is invited, but he can't go, so she asked me to go with her instead."

"So I trust that you're the one infiltrating this time?" Kuon confirmed, earning an excited nod from the other man. "Alright, so are we using the same infiltration as last time?"

"We can't," Rick mumbled. "It's a basement; there's no other entrance."

"Actually there is," Murasame said. "It's a ballroom usually rented for functions that mostly involve large amounts of food. The kitchen is located on the ground floor, so there has to be an employee-only elevator with passage to the main hall restricted to the staffs. Why don't we slip in as members of the staff beforehand, and let Kijima signal us?"

Rick whistled in delighted surprise. "That can work," he agreed. "So Murasame, can you contact the management of the hotel and let them know of the situation? And Kuon, can you attain the approval of the Chief? We do need it before we put this plan in motion."

"Sure," the leader of the team replied. "So moving on to another topic, Setsuka is moving to my house tomorrow. Rick, Yashiro, can you stay on guard with me when I bring her?"

Yashiro nodded, while Rick grinned sheepishly. "Actually, Kuon," he informed. "I was going to ask you for another day off tomorrow."

That got Kuon's attention. "Is anything wrong with Tina?" he asked.

"You see," Rick continued, his grin still in place, "The doctor we saw this morning referred her to an obstetrician, so I'm also going with her tomorrow."

Kuon and Shimona's eyes widened. "You're kidding me," the latter gasped while she was not able to stop a smile from growing on her face. "Tina's pregnant?"

"6 weeks now," Rick's grin grew even wider. "I'm going to be a dad!"

The meeting was cut short with the detective being jokingly tackled by his teammates as a form of congratulations.

* * *

Kanae eyed herself in the mirror. She was dressed in a Greek-styled dress, and her long black hair was put up in an elaborate bun. Beside her, Hiou eyed his short Greek-styled tunic with wings on his back in disgust.

"I look like Cupid," he sneered.

"That's the idea, actually," a deep baritone came from behind them, and they turned around to see the Boss. "I'd like you two to model Venus and Cupid."

Kanae looked at the Boss with disbelief. "That's it?" she asked. "So we just have to model for you, and you'll let the children go?"

"Yes," he purred soothingly. "I never lie, my dear."

She and Hiou looked at each other skeptically before looking back at the Boss. "What should we do?"

The older man smiled at them — something they found nerve-wracking. "Easy," he said. "Kanae-chan," Kanae flinched at that, "I want you to sit down on that rock over there," he pointed to a rock placed on a pedestal. "Hiou-kun, kneel next to her, a bit backwards, and place that flower crown on her head, looking at her eyes. While you do that, I'll get my canvas and paints."

With that, he left the room, leaving Kanae and Hiou filled with relief. She then gingerly sat down at her designated place, while Hiou grabbed the flower crown made of roses, kneeled down next to her, and placed it on top of her head.

That's when everything suddenly turned dark for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta-read by [rsrdiall].
> 
> In Chapter 3 of 'Trade of Innocence', I introduced a term called 'reaping', which has a different meaning in the AU of 'Trade of Innocence' if you compare it to the one in the dictionary. As Marina has said in Chapter 3 and at the beginning of this chapter, they use the term 'reaping' when they refer to kidnapping for trafficking purposes. [rsrdiall] suggested using the term 'kidnapping' for Kanae's case, but that is not exactly 'reaping' is. Kidnapping is done for ransom, 'reaping' is not. When you are 'reaped', you are automatically in the trafficking system as slaves permanently. I got the basic idea from 'The Hunger Games' by Susanne Collins; the characters have to enter the deathly Hunger Games when they are chosen during the reaping. The feel is just like that for the 'reaping' in this AU.
> 
> Also, the structure of the National Police Agency in this AU is taken from the current Japan's National Police Agency (thank you [rsrdiall] for the idea). Our dear detectives in this story works in the Criminal Investigation Bureau, which has 9 active field divisions:  
> \- 1st Division: Homicide or unregistered weapon  
> \- 2nd Division: Robbery or sex-related crime  
> \- 3rd Division: Controlled substances or organized crime  
> \- 4th Division: Burglary, kidnapping or blackmail  
> \- 5th Division: Bombs or explosives  
> \- 6th and 8th Divisions: Rapid reaction units  
> \- 7th Divisions: Financial crimes  
> \- 9th Divisions: Cybercrimes
> 
>  
> 
> (For more details visit en. wikipedia wiki /Law _enforcement _in _Japan. Just remove the spaces.)
> 
> While human trafficking involves a lot of kidnapping, I came to a conclusion a long time ago that it is elaborately organized and definitely sex-related. It is difficult then to put Kuon's team, which consists of a mix of people from different divisions, into either one of the divisions I listed above. Therefore, they are a special unit formed by Lory, the Chief of Police (equivalent to a superintendent general) to work against the severe illegal human trafficking in Neopolis.
> 
> Another thing: I do sometimes apply beeswax onto my chapped lips, but I have never applied it onto my lips when they have open wound(s). I made the 10-year-old Kuon do it, but please, do not do it at home. Seek advice from your parents or people knowledged in health remedies first before you do something to any wound you have (unless you have knowledge in first aid).
> 
> I hope all this long Author's Note helps clear most confusions you readers have (especially yours, [rsrdiall], my dear beta-reader).


	10. Chapter 10

" _And in other news, there is no new developments in the search for child actor and prodigy Hiou Uesugi. His family still hopes their youngest family member will be found safe and sound as soon as possible. Burglary, Kidnapping, and Blackmail Division of the Criminal Investigation Bureau has declined to comment. A similar response was given in regards to the multiple murders that took place at the Kotonami residence two days ago—_ "

Setsuka ignored the blaring radio. Her seat on the back of a small sedan was comfortable, and from her position she could clearly see Kuon driving and Yashiro staring at the radio from the passenger seat, listening studiously to the news.

Rain clouds glowered down over the city, coloring the many skyscrapers of Neopolis with a solemn grayish hue. The chance of a thunderstorm was surely not something that could lift up her low spirit.

Seijuro and the nurses assigned to her had thrown her a small farewell party as she had been officially discharged from the hospital. Before Kuon and Yashiro escorted her out towards their car, the doctor had told her with a warm smile that she could come see him anytime she wanted, no matter what the reason.

He had even told her that going out and seeing the town might be able to jog her memories. So far, as she stared at the passing view of buildings and pedestrians, she still got nothing. Her still not being able to remember anything irritated her. Maybe leaving the hospital wasn't really a good thing. The girl did not feel entirely safe outside the confines of the hospital.

It had not been 15 minutes since she had left the hospital, and Setsuka already found herself missing the father-figure of a doctor. The only safety anchor she had at the moment was Kuon, and she herself wondered why she felt so peaceful and secure around him.

Her amber eyes unconsciously shifted towards Kuon, and she took note of his features. His jade eyes, focused on the road, sometimes glinted with the hint of something she did not recognize. His face was small yet masculine with sharp chin and high cheekbones. She already knew he was amazingly tall compared to her, and he easily towered over other men – apart from Rick – and dwarfed her when they stood side by side.

The next second, the girl was staring at the lean muscles of his arms hugged by his slightly crumpled white shirt. They flexed a little as he gripped the steering wheel, bulging tightly against the cotton sleeves. She remembered being held in those strong arms, and she could feel heat rushing towards her face in embarrassment.

"We're here," said man's voice startled her from her internal musings, and only then she realized that the car had stopped.

The detective had opened her door and was offering his hand to help her get out. Setsuka grasped the offered hand and stepped out of the car. She lifted her head to see her surroundings and her jaw immediately dropped.

Kuon had briefed her on his family, which consisted of Koo, his father — who was currently still bedridden in the hospital more because of his wife's insistence rather than the severity of his injuries; Julie, his mother whom she had met and spent time with a few days ago; and Shimona, his cousin and someone the young girl had caught a glance of.

From his description of his family and her time with Julie, Setsuka had pictured the Hizri family to be one living in a small brick house or cottage, with a warm fireplace and filled with laughter most of the day, and a front yard with a dog as a pet. It was a bit disappointing for her when she found his house to actually be—

"It's huge!" she let out loudly without thinking as she stared wide-eyed at the large two-story Gablefront house before her.

The wooden walls were painted soft yellowish cream while the roofs and window shutters were of a light charcoal color against pure white window sills. The stone front stairs led to a very spacious front porch that wrapped around the front and right sides of the main house. as another flight of stairs was situated near the semi-detached garage. A large, white bay window with dark panes stood at the left corner of the house, the paint stood out against the green from the lush grass of the front yard. A chimney made of stones peeked out from behind the roofs.

Kuon scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Is it?" he asked with a wry grin. "Mom inherited this from her grandfather, and my parents had planned to have as many kids as possible, so they kept this house."

"So you actually have a lot of siblings?" the girl asked with a small excited smile.

"No, unfortunately they are only blessed with this rascal," Kuon joked as he pointed at himself. "But Rick used to live with us before he went to college. Shimona moved in with us permanently as well after her parents passed away; that was when I was a high school sophomore. So I won't say that the extra rooms were wasted."

Setsuka hummed in comprehension and a little disappointment as she looked back at the mansion. Kuon went back to help Yashiro with her rather large bag — only god knows what had been packed inside for the amnesiac girl.

The front door of the house was suddenly opened with a bang to reveal a very excited Julie. "Setsu- _chan_!" she squealed loudly as she ran towards Setsuka to engulf her in a warm, welcoming hug. "You're finally here!"

"Hello, Julie- _san_ ," she greeted the gorgeous woman timidly with a small smile.

The older woman then dragged her by the shoulders towards the house. "Let me show you your room," she told her with a wide smile. "I'm sure you'll love it."

Julie steered Setsuka through the mud room, where she showed the girl where to put her shoes in; the large kitchen and the adjacent dining room, and up the stairs to the second floor.

"And here's your room," the blonde woman told Setsuka as she opened the first door at the end of the stairs.

The room was not very wide, but Julie had managed to fit in a twin-sized bed, a bedside table, a wardrobe, and a vanity table with a mirror while still providing a lot of space for Setsuka to move around. The windows had flowing white curtains, and Setsuka could peer through them at the large back yard.

The girl turned around to look at Julie, who was looking back at her with an expectant grin. "Julie-san, this room is," she gasped with a smile. "It's beautiful."

Julie's grin turned into a dazzling beam. "See? I knew you'd like it," she said. "I was actually worried about what color I should get for your bedspread, but I figured pale rose would be perfect for you." She gestured towards the pale rose bedspread and quilt that blended nicely with the white wooden bed frame.

"Koo and I are next door," Julie informed her, "and Kuon is on the right side at the front of the hallway. The left one is Shimona's. Unfortunately you'll have to share the bathroom with us, so—"

She was cut off when Kuon reached the second floor and put Setsuka's belongings onto the floor with a little huff. "Yashiro invited us all for lunch before he has to go back to the precinct," he informed them before focusing his warm gaze at Setsuka. "Is everything alright? Anything else you might need?"

The girl shook her head with a small smile, which earned one back from the blond detective.

"Kuon," Julie suddenly spoke up, "I'm going to the hospital to see your dad; can you please help Setsu- _chan_ settle in?"

Kuon did not reply; instead, he immediately brought Setsuka's bag into the room and closed the door behind him.

The Hizri matriarch stared at the closed door with a knowing snicker. Kuon and Setsuka might not have noticed how he had flushed every time he caught her eyes, but Julie had.

Suddenly the phone rang.

"Who could be calling the landline at this hour?" she asked herself. Normally people would just opt to contact their mobile phones during business hours. Julie walked down the stairs and picked the phone up. "Hizri residence."

" _Aunt Julie, it's me,_ " Shimona's voice was panting with excitement. " _Who gave you that hair?_ "

"It was a present from someone dear to me," Julie replied, a bit perplexed by the sudden question. Realization suddenly hit her, widening her eyes. "Is there anything wrong?"

" _Nope,_ " Julie could hear the younger woman smirk victoriously. " _In fact, thanks to you, we've hit our jackpot with the investigation. Now tell me, who is she?_ "

* * *

Setsuka sat on her bed, taking her new bedroom in, while Kuon unpacked her bags. She had no problem with the room — in fact, she loved it — but looking at the room, she could not help but thinking that the room felt familiar.

Her fingers grazed the pale rose duvet as she looked around. She found comfort in the mahogany furniture and the sunshine. It made the wooden floor sparkle through the white curtains while reflecting the shadows of the big oak from the backyard. All of these things encased her like a warm embrace.

Like a home.

She closed her eyes, letting the feeling warm her depraved heart and soul. And for an instant, she could swear she heard bouts of joyous laughter from a boy and a girl somewhere far away yet near at the same time. It brought a smile onto her lips, and she focused her hearing and mind, trying to hear more of that laughter and find its source.

"You know," she heard Kuon talk and reluctantly opened her eyes to look at her current guardian. "It's been ages since I last set foot in this room."

"Really?" Setsuka replied absentmindedly when numerous photo frames on the bedside table suddenly piqued her interest. She shifted on the bed to have a better look at them. "Why is that?"

Kuon shrugged lightly. "They always kept it locked. Don't know why."

"Kuon- _san_ ," Setsuka suddenly spoke up. "Who's this girl?"

He frowned in confusion. "What girl?"

She took one of the photo frames and showed it to him. In the picture stood a boy and a girl. The boy was blond with jade eyes and looked so much like Kuon, so she assumed that it was him when he was younger. The little girl beside him, though…

… looked so much like her now with black hair and amber eyes.

Kuon's eyes widened in recognition. The girl he was currently looking at was the one that had been haunting his childhood memories for the past few days. She was—

"—Kyoko…"

Setsuka perked up. "Kyoko?"

He nodded stiffly, his face overwhelmed with many expressions. "Yes, Kyoko," he mumbled. "She used to live with us when I was young for about a year before her father came for her."

Kuon reached for the photo frame with slightly trembling hands, and Setsuka gingerly gave it to him. He caressed the face of the little girl with one gentle finger. "Kyoko," he rasped as tears brimmed on his eyes. "Poor Kyoko, how could I forget about you?"

Setsuka could feel her heart ache. In that instant she wished he would find the girl this gentle man shed tears for.

* * *

_**His heart ached when he stood before Kyoko. Her small body was curved inward under the canopy of the great old oak and heaved with sobs, her face hidden by her tucked knees.** _

_**She had been crying nonstop since Koo regretfully had told her that he had finally found her family, and someone was going to take her back home. In fact, her father, who had introduced himself as Misonoi, had arrived just half an hour ago.** _

_**Kyoko had refused to go with him, to even acknowledge him as her father, and from the genuine hurt look on Misonoi's face, Kuon had known that this man truly was Kyoko's parent.** _

_**Not knowing what else to do, Kuon crouched down and patted her head comfortingly before drawing her in for a hug, letting her cry onto his chest, while he struggled to not cry as well. He had to be strong for her in this situation, for he knew that she would be happier with her own family.** _

_**"Kyoko," he murmured. "Everything's going to be alright."** _

_**She shook her head and her grip on his polo shirt tightened. "I don't want to go. The uncle looks scary."** _

_**"But he is your father—"** _

_**"But I want to live with you! And Papa Koo, and Mama Julie…" And her tears started anew.** _

_**At his wit's end, Kuon reached into his pocket for a handkerchief to wipe her tears. Instead, he found the small piece of rock his mother had given him several birthdays ago.** _

_**An idea struck him.** _

_**"Kyoko," he pushed her away gently while taking the stone out of his pocket. "Open your hands." And he put the stone in her small opened palms. "Move it in front of the sun."** _

_**And a purple streak flashed among all the blue, bringing an astonished gasp from the girl. Kuon chuckled.** _

_**"Just now, that was magic," he explained with a smile, repeating what his mother had told him when he had received the stone. "When the color changes, it feels like it takes away your sadness, right? With this magic, you won't be sad anymore, even if we're not with each other."** _

_**"But Kuon," Kyoko cried pitifully, "I still don't want to go!"** _

_**"I don't want you to go either, Kyoko," Kuon admitted with a sad frown as he hugged the girl again. "But he is your father, and he wants you to live with him. And I know you'll be happier with him. We can always see, call, or S-Skype each other—"** _

_**He could not finish his reassurance for the girl — a reassurance meant for him as well — as he could not hold his tears back.** _

_**The adults found them minutes later crying their hearts out onto each other's shoulders.** _

* * *

Suddenly reminded by his last memories of Kyoko, Kuon reached for the forgotten blue stone in his pocket.

Now he knew why the stone was familiar.

It was the same stone he had used to possess, the one he had given to Kyoko.

And after 10 years, the stone had returned to him through Chiori, who had claimed it to have belonged to Setsuka.

He lifted his head from the stone in his palm to Setsuka, who was staring at him in confusion. _Could this girl be…?_ And he realized something. _Amber eyes aren't common._

"Setsuka," Kuon began carefully, showing the blue stone to Setsuka, heart fluttering restlessly with hope, "do you somehow recognize this stone?"

She eyed the Iolite curiously, and was suddenly washed with unfamiliar recognition. "I'm not sure," she said, taking the stone from Kuon's hand and put it gently in her own hands with the widest, prettiest smile Kuon had ever seen on her face. His eyes widened once again.

For Kuon, when she smiled like that, it was like seeing Kyoko in front of him again.

"But I feel like this stone has been with me forever." She walked towards the window and slid the curtain aside, allowing more of the sunlight to bath the room. And then, she lifted the stone the exact way he had taught Kyoko years ago. "It's weird, right? Even when I can't remember any single thing about myself."

The blue stone flashed purple, and her smile widened into a cheerful beam. "Did you see it?" she turned to Kuon. "This stone must be magical! I have the feeling that it just took my sadness away—"

She had to stop when she was abruptly drawn into a tight embrace of strong warm arms and chest, and a scent that felt so familiar for her. She could feel Kuon's body tremble.

"Kyoko," he murmured, tears falling down his cheeks and onto her hair. "I found you…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta-read by [rsrdiall]


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Child sexual abuse is heavily implied in this chapter. If that's an issue for you please skip over the first three paragraphs. You have been warned.

**_The first time Koo Hizri met Kyoko was during a raid._ **

**_Several days before, the precinct had received a tip on a child sexual abuse case. After a thorough investigation, a priest acting as the caretaker of an orphanage was suspected to be the culprit, sexually abusing the orphans under his care._ **

**_The sight welcoming Koo and his colleagues was a horrid one. The children had been subjected to varying amounts of sexual and physical abuse, evidenced by their injuries and malnutrition. The orphanage building itself was unlivable, with the urine and defecation covering various spots of the floor. Koo had even found one poor boy forced to eat his own feces by one of the nuns. When they had gone further into his office, the priest had been in the middle of sodomizing another boy._ **

**_Conditions of the little girls were even worse. Most of them wore grimy clothes too large for them, their hair lacking the healthy shine it was supposed to have. Their eyes were dull and sunken, losing their child-like lively, playful spirits. Even with only one quick glance, signs of severe sexual abuse were apparent already for Koo and his colleague._ **

**_Having been caught red-handed, the capture of all the orphanage caretakers was swift. But even with the assurance that the perpetrators would be brought to justice, Koo could still feel the bile rising to his throat whenever the memories surged up into his mind._ **

**_All the children were then taken under the protection of the police. They were fed, clothed, bathed, and eventually sent to families willing to adopt them._ **

**_All but one girl._ **

**_Whom Koo currently stood face to face with. She stared at him with innocent amber eyes. The room was filled with an awkward silence, until he scratched the back of his head._ **

**_"_ ** **_Why are you still here?" he asked with an easy smile. Even with that, the girl still flinched with dread. He wondered what had been done to her in that hellhole of an 'orphanage'._ **

**_"Detective Hizri," a police-appointed social worker greeted him while approaching. When he stood beside Koo, he leaned forward and whispered, "We couldn't find any other family to take care of her."_ **

**_Koo eyed her again, taking in her features. She looked to be of Japanese descent, and about 6 to 7 years old._ **

**_About the same age as Kuon._ **

**_He smiled again and crouched down to be at the eye level of the girl. "Hey there," he greeted her again, more gently than before. "Sorry for the scare. My name's Koo. What's yours?"_ **

**_The girl stared at him for a while, as if assessing him. "K-Kyoko," she then answered with a voice above a whisper._ **

**_"Kyoko," Koo repeated with a grin. "I like your name. It signifies that you belong here in Neopolis. Unlike my name," he pouted. "Mine sounds like a bird, right? I mean, 'Koo-koo'." He grimaced at that._ **

**_She giggled at his lame attempt at a joke, making his smile widen in joy._ **

**_"Hey, Kyoko," he began. "I have a son around your age, and my wife has been wanting a little girl. So, you see…" He scratched the back of his neck again awkwardly before making a determined expression. "Kyoko, if you have nowhere to go, and I'm sure you don't really want to go back to the orphanage, why don't you come live with my family? I'm sure Julie and Kuon will be happy to have you with us."_ **

**_Kyoko blinked at that, and then she warily eyed the hand outstretched for her to take._ **

**_Seeing that, Koo chuckled._ Her attitude was like a stray cat _, he thought._ It shouldn't have been like that. She could've had it better for her before this, and yet… _"It's okay, Kyoko. I can assure you that they don't bite. And I'm sure Kuon would love to play with you."_**

**_The girl eyed him for a while more before stretching her small hand and gripping his larger one, putting all of her trust in him with a small smile._ **

* * *

 

Koo slowly opened his eyes, allowing them to adjust to the light coming from his hospital room window. Blinking twice to shake off the drowse, he thought back to the dream he had.

It had been so long since he was last reminded of his first meeting with the little girl, and he did not realize how much he missed her.

Kyoko had been a great addition to his family. Julie had been instantly enraptured by her humble meekness, which she had dismissed as 'cuteness and being extremely adorable'. Kuon had been more reserved at first when Koo had first introduced the two kids to each other, but with time, the boy had become the most protective over the little girl. Koo even believed his son might have had a strong crush on Kyoko.

For Koo himself, Kyoko had become his darling daughter, one of his treasures. He had been reluctant to let the girl go when a man called Kento Mogami had come to their house and asked if she could come live with him again. Seeing that she had been his only family and he had been leaving no stone unturned looking for her for years, the determination and fatherly love Koo had seen in Kento's eyes convinced the police officer otherwise.

Of course, he always regretted the fact that he had failed big time in protecting her from harm. But that only made him more determined to get out of the damned hospital, back into the field, and do something worthwhile to help abolish the very problem that had started it all.

Yet in her absence, Koo felt like someone had ripped a big chunk from his heart and left it empty, incomplete. His heart still beat, yes, but it had been hollow ever since.

"Penny for your thoughts?" a familiar voice asked with a smile. Koo looked up to see Julie leaning on the door of his room with arms crossed.

Koo smiled back at his wife. "How are you today, Honey?"

"I'm actually feeling awesome, Darling," she replied. "I'm feeling like all this happiness wants to burst out from inside my heart like a firework."

"Now that got my attention," Koo raised an eyebrow in interest. "I'm listening here."

"She's back."

That got him dumbfounded. He stared at Julie in silence with wide eyes, asking her to elaborate. In return, his wife smiled at him with tears brimming on her emerald eyes. "She's back, Darling. Our sweet baby girl is back with us."

Koo swore his heart stopped beating for a few seconds hearing it, before it beat again twice as fast as before.

_She's back. Our Kyoko is back._

And he felt life once more surging back into his soul as joyous tears flowed from his blue eyes.

* * *

 _What did he just call me?_ Setsuka asked herself in surprise as she stiffened in Kuon's emotional embrace. He was hugging — no, practically crushing her into his chest — so tight her back arched backward and her toes almost did not touch the floor, and she could feel tears wetting her shoulder.

 _Did he just call me… 'Kyoko'? Isn't that the little girl's name?_ She gasped quietly in realization. _Don't tell me he's thinking that I'm…_

 _But it might be true_ , a little voice somewhere in her mind whispered. _You don't remember anything, so you can't prove it wrong, right? You might be the Kyoko he's talking about._

Before she could respond to her little thought, a knock was heard from her door. Kuon immediately pulled away from her, his face looked surprised from the act of hugging her.

The blond detective took a moment to gather himself before he cleared his throat. "Yes?" he called out towards the direction of the closed door.

"It's me, Yashiro," a voice mumbled from the other side. "Are you ready for lunch, Hizri, Setsu- _chan_? The others are waiting at the restaurant."

"Uh, yeah," Kuon replied, obviously taken aback. He had been so consumed by his discovery of Setsuka's possible true identity as Kyoko that he had completely forgotten his colleague waiting downstairs for them. "We'll be out in a minute."

His reply was met with uncomfortable silence. The emerald-eyed man was sure Yashiro was frowning at the door as if scrutinizing him through a transparent barrier, which Kuon did not want to think about. "Sure," the reply finally came before Yashiro's footsteps could not be heard anymore.

Right at that time, there was a grumbling sound. Kuon turned his attention back to Setsuka, who was now flushing in embarrassment. He had to hold himself from showing his mirth.

"Come on then," he casually said. "It's time for a quick lunch." Turning around, he opened the door and descended the stairs.

Unbeknownst to him, Setsuka eyed his retreating back with confusion and hurt. _Why is he acting as if nothing happened just now?_

* * *

When Yashiro had said 'the others', he had meant 'everybody'. And that did mean _everybody_ , including the ever so busy Shimona.

Rick, Kijima, Murasame, and Shimona had taken their seat in a booth around the table, leaving some space for Yashiro, Kuon, and Setsuka. The sole female in the team gave her a friendly smile as the other girl took her seat next to her. "How are you feeling, Kyoko?"

Setsuka halted before she could settle down in her seat, and Kuon froze behind her. She lifted her head a bit to address Shimona, who at that moment was eyeing her with an I-have-achieved-something smile. "Shimona- _san_ , right?" the girl confirmed, earning a nod from the other woman. "Why did you call me that? Did Kuon- _san_ tell you to?"

"He did?" Shimona asked back in slight surprise. She looked at her flustered cousin and smirked. "So you know about her?" she asked Kuon.

"I have my speculation," Kuon mumbled with a frown. "But if you called her that herself, does it mean I hit the bullseye?"

"Absolutely," the ME replied, gesturing to both him and Setsuka to take their seat and flagged a waiter to take their order.

Once their order came and some of them finished saying their grace, Shimona began her explanation. "Thanks to Aunt Julie, we managed to find Setsuka's identity. Her name is Kyoko, daughter of Kento Mogami and an unknown mother."

"Unknown, as in…?" Kijima asked, silently asking Shimona to elaborate.

"Unknown, as in not registered," she continued. "According to the police record, Kyoko was secured from a disastrous orphanage during a raid conducted by Uncle Koo and his team 10 years ago. She was then unofficially adopted into the Hizri family," she paused to ask Kuon for confirmation, "but a year later she was declared missing after a shoot-out at the Hizri family residence.

"After confirming her identity with Aunt Julie about an hour ago, I tried to dig something up about this Kento Mogami, and what I found surprised me." She reached into her bag and pulled out her tablet, showing them an identification data. "He was an internationally-famed prolific artist born in a well-off family, which means that this guy was rich. This fact itself invites another question about Kyoko, though."

Rick immediately caught on. "Why a daughter of such a man was in an orphanage, right? And not any ordinary orphanage at that."

"Exactly!" Shimona exclaimed in excitement. "Well, I have my own hypothesis about that, but…" She uncomfortably glanced at Setsuka — Kyoko — from the corner of her eyes before continuing, "I don't want to talk about it before I ensure that my info is 100% correct."

"At least we know for sure what to call you," Murasame cut in, ending the awkward tension in their booth. "Isn't that good, Kyoko- _chan_?"

Kyoko was startled out of her thoughts, whatever it is. "Uh, err, yes," she stuttered with a small smile that did not reach her eyes.

Kuon noticed it. "Is there something wrong?" he asked with worry evident in his tone.

The younger girl shook her head negatively. "I'm alright," she said. "It's just a lot to take in… So I'm really Kyoko? The one from the pictures?"

He nodded.

She shakily let out her breath and closed her eyes, repeating the name in her mind. _Kyoko_. It sent a sense of familiarity to her being, along with the happiness that the man sitting beside her, worrying about her, finally found the little girl he had been looking for for so long.

* * *

The next day, the Hizri team was already hidden at various points surrounding the entrance of the Neopolis Royal Hotel, monitoring the now tuxedo-clad Hidehito Kijima entering the lobby with his unsuspecting girlfriend, Itsumi Momose.

" _Your invitation, please_ ," Kuon could hear the security guard through the mini microphone hidden under Kijima's collar. It was silent for a moment, before he could hear a set of heavy doors being opened, and the many voices of people socializing came in a blast.

"Kijima, how's the inside?" he asked. "Do you see anyone familiar?"

" _If by 'familiar' you mean a lot of important, rich people, yeah, I see a lot of them, alright_ ," Kijima grumbled in ire. " _Whoa, I even see our '_ bocchan' _."_

"You're kidding, right?!"Kuon blurted out in exasperation. "I thought he was still in detention center!"

" _Didn't you hear, Hizri?_ " Yashiro said. " _That spoiled scoundrel bailed himself out just yesterday._ "

Kijima sighed heavily in frustration. " _Seriously. We expect them to be a morale example for the lower class, yet_ _—_ "

"Calm down, Kijima," Rick said as he crouched down next to Kuon on the rooftop of the building facing the hotel. "We'll eventually apprehend them all. But now, we all need you to focus on your part. And a bit of advice: flirt a bit with your girlfriend. If your tone is any indicator, you might be looking murderous now."

" _... Roger that._ "

Kuon then signaled for his other team members to enter with him through the back door designated for the hotel staff into the staff room. The hotel management had been notified of the plan before, and they had been more than cooperative, supplying them with their staff uniform and making sure that the staff help them as much as they safely could. Once in the police force started disguising themselves as kitchen hands and waiters.

Before they finished getting ready, though, Kijima called in. " _Hizri_ ," the resident playboy detective informed warily. " _You might want to report this to Homicide._ "

"What? What's wrong?" Kuon asked, not liking the resignation in Kijima's voice, dreading for the worse that could come.

" _One of the auctioned art pieces… The 'sculpture' of 'Aphrodite and Eros'… The cupid looks so much like Hiou Uesugi._ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta-read by [rsrdiall].
> 
> Glossary:  
> Bocchan = young master. You now know who Kijima was referring to.  
> This chapter is written in response to the many past cases of child sexual abuse involving priests in Australia.


	12. Chapter 12

"What the heck do you mean Hiou Uesugi is there as a statue?" Shingai grumbled at Kuon over the phone.

" _That's what Kijima reported to me_ ," the other detective replied, also none too happy with the discovery. " _He was found posing as the Cupid of 'Aphrodite and Eros', a 'sculpture' version of a painting with the same title. And if my intuition doesn't fail me this time around, the Aphrodite must be—_ "

"Kanae Kotonami," Shingai filled in confidently. "I can't believe I was so spot on when I told Akatoki this case is a reaping. I was hoping I could be given a chance to eat my own words. Turned out the heavens aren't that kind, huh? So, Hizri, what's your plan? Do you still need back-up?"

There was a conversation going on the other side of the phone, and then the homicide inspector heard Kuon saying, " _Any moment now. Have Kijima get Momose out of the hotel ASAP, and then we can go in. Have the ballistic shield ready. Capture as many as possible. Shingai,_ " that got his attention, " _can you send more of your people and have them stand by the hotel exits?_ "

"On it," Shingai replied as he got his own radio to have his subordinates moving. "ETA is 10 minutes." And with that he ended the call.

As he walked out of his office with hurried steps, barking orders through his radio, a voice halted his pace. Shingai turned around to see Lory Takarada looking back at him grimly.

"I'm asking you again, Shingai- _kun_ ," the Chief of Police asked again with a chilling tone. "Where do you think you are going?"

* * *

Julie entered the quiet living room and smiled when she found Kyoko sitting on the couch stiff as a rod. The television was not on, and neither was the classic CD player Koo had inherited from his grandfather.

Kyoko's eyes darted towards the large windows every 10 seconds, and that made Julie chuckle. "Worried about Kuon?" she asked, startling the unnerved girl.

Kyoko turned around and sheepishly nodded as the Hizri matriarch took the seat next to her. "I'm not too sure about what a raid is, but from what I heard of their discussion yesterday, it seems very dangerous."

"It is," Julie agreed solemnly. "They're dealing with the mafia, and firearms are involved more so than not. Why, that's exactly what landed Koo into hospital!"

"But you look calm," Kyoko stated the obvious. Indeed, Julie was not a bundle of nerves, unlike herself with her body trembling from worry. "Aren't you worried that Kuon- _san_ might get injured or… shot dead?"

Julie considered that for a bit. "I trust my boys have the capabilities to come back safely," she said slowly with a smile. "And of course, I trust their teammates to make sure of it. Also, there's Shimona on standby, and I'd kick her ass if she couldn't do the easiest part of her job — sorry about the language.

"All I can do is pray for their safety, and doing that always calms me. Come here," she put her hand on Kyoko's shoulder and drew the younger girl closer to her side. "You're cold, Kyoko! Should I get you a blanket, or crank up the heater?"

"I'm fine, Julie- _san_ ," Kyoko mumbled before snuggling closer to Julie. "This is nice."

Julie smiled again as she looked at the top of Kyoko's crown of black strands. She could feel tears blurring her sight in joy, and she hugged Kyoko tightly, not wanting to let go.

"I'm so happy you're back, Kyoko," the blonde sobbed above a whisper.

* * *

The enticing smell of pike carpaccio wafted through the air and filled the hallway where Kuon and the others stood as security organized by the auction organizer checked their trolleys for the last time. Unfortunately, the aroma of divine food and the knowledge that said food was within reach did not bode well for Murasame, who had missed his lunch.

"I swear this is making me hungrier by the second," he grumbled softly next to Yashiro, who immediately shushed him under the guise of perfect professional service. Nearby, Kuon was questioned by one of the security about his radio earpiece, which he easily dismissed as a hearing aid.

"Patience, Murasame," Rick whispered. "Once they ask for the food to be brought in, we can get this operation started, and you'll be able to get your grub soon after that. In fact, I doubt your hunger will be on your mind later."

No sooner after Rick finished his scolding, the security opened the doors leading into the ballroom, and the master of ceremony announced the start of the banquet.

"Don't screw this up, guys," Kuon murmured. In perfect synchronization expected from the staff of a high class hotel, they carted the trolleys in.

" _We're out of the hotel already,_ " Kijima informed them through the radio.

"Good," Kuon replied under his breath. "Now go take her to a restaurant far away from the hotel and treat her to dinner. Put the bill on the office's tab."

" _They won't mind me taking her to that new French restaurant, right? I heard the price is ridiculous, but Itsumi has been wanting to go there—_ "

"Just go wherever, Kijima."

" _Roger that. I'll make sure to bring leftovers for you guys. Oops, I'll be out of range soon, so I wish you guys the best. Catch them all, alright?_ "

"This is not Pokemon, you know," Kuon deadpanned. Hearing that, Rick brought his hand up to hide his snickers.

Almost in perfect unison, they put an entrée on every table. When that was done, Kuon prepared himself to signal the squad with the ballistic shields to barge in.

"I wouldn't really do that if I were you, dear detectives," a taunting man's voice suddenly blared from the sound systems. "And I know you know what I'm talking about."

Surprised, Kuon and the others looked around to search for the speaker, and found him standing on the stage, holding a microphone within his long, thin fingers.

The silver hair of the man glinted in the spotlight, contrasting his black leather pants and open-collared shirt. Kuon recognized him as the man he had met at the hospital, in front of the door leading to Kyoko's room that time.

"Then again," the silver-haired man shrugged, "we don't really care. Let's see what you've prepared to bring us down, shall we?" He then let out a challenging smirk.

Kuon stared at him with a frown for the longest time, while his team looked at him for a decision to be made and other people attending the auction buzzed in confusion.

He then signaled the ballistic shield squad in.

Not even a second later, the doors barged open and police equipped with shields and bulletproof jackets rushed in, barricading the exits and pointing some of their guns...

... towards Kuon and his team members.

"What's the meaning of this?" Kuon growled.

Some of the officers flinched at his tone. "I'm sorry, Detective Hizri," one of them truly apologized. "But we're just doing as per instruction."

The blond detective was taken aback at the reply. "Whose instruction?"

"Ladies and gentlemen," the silver-haired man butted in as he saluted gleefully from the stage. "Let's welcome our main attraction today: the drama of betrayal among our own police force! Give them a hearty applause!"

His manic claps echoed in the tensed, silent room, before the attendees instantly fled from the tables and slammed frantically against the ballistic shield barricades, the blasting of firearms covered frightened and panicked screams.

Kuon let out of a colorful curse as he ducked and took his concealed gun from under the silver dome used to cover the food he had served. "What the hell is happening here?" he asked himself before hollering, "Fall back! Secure as many people and victims as you can and retreat!"

Within the chaos, the silver-haired man kept cackling in amusement.

* * *

An hour later, all members of Team Hizri but Kijima tiredly and dejectedly slumped against the wall of the hotel building, graze wounds from bullets peppering their bodies. Nearby, Shimona and her fellow MEs from the Forensic Department were busy figuring out what to do with the victims Kuon and the others had managed to retrieve.

"Only two people," Kuon grumbled in frustration. "With all of the meticulous planning, and putting an innocent civilian at risk, we only managed to rescue two people."

"More importantly, what the heck exactly happened?" Yashiro mumbled, as depressed as his leader. "From the worst of things to happen against the plan, I'd never imagine being shot at by our own colleagues. And what will happen to the other victims?"

"As they now know of our modus operandi, I doubt they will do something like an auction again," Rick replied. "My best guess? They will immediately get rid of the vics by the usual illegal routes to the red districts out of Neopolis."

"So even though they weren't technically sold, it will make it more difficult for us if they get out of our jurisdiction," Kuon continued. "By the way, where the hell was Shingai? He promised me his men were already dispatched."

Shimona chose that moment to join in the conversation. "Chief Takarada apparently gave him a no-go."

The blond detective frowned at his cousin, obviously displeased with the revelation. "What the hell for? That's not what the Chief told us when he formed this team. Everything can be utilized to ensure the success of every operation of this team, including other police department's squad that now we know has betrayed us."

"But that's what happened, at least that's what Shingai-san told me," Shimona commented. "And don't blame the guy; he felt guilty enough as it is."

Everyone was silent for a while, letting the grim facts sink in.

Eventually Rick stood up. "Kuon," he called. "I'd like your permission to conduct my own investigation."

"I don't mind, but what for?" Kuon asked.

Rick frowned in thought. "The ballistic shield guys were given an order that didn't come from us; the only people able to give them order that override yours are by no doubt from the precinct. The mole in the police force we've been warned about must be a ranked Inspector or above, and this might be dangerous for our future investigations and operations. I'll make sure to find out what that is.

"Meanwhile, you can look into this auction a bit more. Whoever was organizing this auction must be related to the ring we're hunting. And there's also that silver-haired guy we have to look out for. Alright, buddy?" He nudged Kuon's shoulder playfully with an optimistic grin.

The younger detective sullenly nodded.

Silence ensued again, until Shimona decided to break it. "So, any idea on how to find out how we can save Uesugi and Kotonami, now that we've managed to prevent them from being sold?"

* * *

Kurosaki's office door at the Central Hospital banged open, and the _yankee_ doctor watched calmly next to the taken aback Ruriko as Miroku was dragged outside, thrashing against four police officers, hands already cuffed.

"What the hell?!" he hollered. "Let me go, you sons of bitches! I'm going to be suing your sorry asses!"

"Except that we already have the arrest warrant issued by the Prosecutor's Office based on the decisive info against you," Murasame told the long-haired man. "Now, I'd suggest you calm down and let us talk to you at the precinct, or I'll be forced to shoot you down."

"What decisive info?" Miroku spat. "Nothing can indict me! Nothing!"

"You think so?" the detective smirked. "Not even this photograph?" He waved a picture of Miroku at the art auction, talking to the silver-haired man that had made his presence known on the stage, right in front of the arrested man's face. "I took this myself during a raid last night! Pretty good, right?"

"Try me," Miroku sneered. "That's bullshit. And don't bother threatening to shoot me; I know the hospital doesn't allow any weapon inside."

"Oh really?" Murasame shrugged, before he took out his issued firearm, removed the safety, and aimed it at Miroku. "Strange, nobody told me."

And the detective shot.

"The heck?!" Kurosaki blurted out in surprise, his lit cigarette dropped forgotten on the floor. "I told you to not shoot inside the building! That's against the agreement!"

"Don't worry, Doc," Murasame waved his gun as if it were a toy. "It's only loaded with tranquilizers. Thanks for the cooperation!"

Kurosaki could only gape as all police left the vicinity with the troublesome, unconscious patient of his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta-read by [rsrdiall]


	13. Chapter 13

**_Darkness engulfed her as her feet padded further down the cold concrete stairway. Her breathing was erratic. Whether it was adrenaline from excitement or fear she was not sure. As she descended further down, she looked back numerous times, as if she feared being found out._ **

**_Moments later, she entered a damp room lit only by small fluorescent lamps. However, even by the dim lighting she navigated herself smoothly through the maze of steel cells. For some reason she forced her eyes to look straight ahead (or forward), refusing to see what was behind the iron barricades._ **

**_She finally stopped in front of a cell, and her gaze fell onto a skinny, tall boy curled up on the floor, his face obscured by his knees and messy white hair._ **

**_"Hey," she whispered. The boy lifted up his head, looking at her with elated surprise shining in his purple eyes. He was rather stunning for a boy, she decided, with skin brighter than her own, if not paler, and under the strong, focused light, his white hair sparkled a silver gleam. His eyes, though sunken due to malnutrition and numerous sleepless nights, were focused, showing the strength of his soul._ **

**_Looking around to make sure no one was nearby, she rummaged through the pocket inside her cardigan, pulled out a piece of dinner roll, and gave it to him._ **

**_A grateful smile was her reward as he took the roll with a joyful glint in her eyes. He said something, but she couldn't hear what it was..._ **

* * *

Kyoko woke up in a daze, finding herself under the warm covers on her bed. The gentle sunshine of the morning after a storm shone through the opened flowing curtains.

The last thing she could remember was waiting for Kuon with Julie in the living room downstairs before she had apparently dozed off. She figured it must have been either Julie or Kuon who had tucked her in.

Her mind turned to the blond detective. Since the revelation of her identity, Kuon had been more doting towards her. That in itself had sparked a happiness along with guilt in her.

_What if I'm not really the Kyoko he's looking for?_ She had often thought for the past couple of days.

Also, there was also that dream she had just had. Although she did not know who that boy was, she was pretty sure he had called her in gratitude when she had given him the bread.

And the name he had mouthed had not been 'Kyoko'.

Reckoning the situation in her dream, she surmised that she had been younger, and the clothes she had worn had felt clean and expensive, protecting her body from the chill of the dark room. Her feet had been covered in a pair of fuzzy and comfortable slippers. She drew the conclusion that she had been in a very different situation than that boy.

That confused her. Kuon and Rick had told her that they had saved her from a slave auction, and her condition at that time had been inhumanely bad. Adding to that, she could see the three-eyed chain branded on her chest peeking from beneath her sleepwear — a simple, comfortable purple shirt and matching cotton pants. According to Shimona, who had solemnly explained it to her the previous day, it was regarded as the universal symbol of slavery, and the ones branded with the symbol were generally, as she had put it crudely, a slave that could be freely trafficked.

_Was it only a dream?_ Kyoko mused. _Or was it a part of the memories I lost? If the latter is true, then what exactly happened in my past?_

Then she reached the most intriguing question. _Who is that boy?_

* * *

In another room far away from Kyoko's, Reino opened his eyes, disappointed of waking up.

_It was a really pleasant dream_ , he grumbled quietly. _Too bad; I don't really want to go back to reality now._

The dream itself had brought him back to the very reason of his existence. He had been a mere 'goods' himself, beaten and starved almost on daily basis. His only solace at those worse times had been the little girl with ochre eyes akin to gold.

He owed his life to her; if not for the bread she had snuck away from her dinner table to his cold and dark cage, he would have never lived to see today.

So he had worked hard, proving himself to be more than just a mere 'goods' in order to impress his tormentors, just because he had wanted to be together with her openly. Too bad for him, he had set his aim too high, Miroku had commented once.

For she was the Boss' dearest, most treasured possession, and the Boss would not stop at any measure to protect what was his from other prying hands.

Imagine how surprised and slightly pleased Reino had been when the girl he had been pining for had gone missing from the mansion, away from the Boss' reach, and Miroku had barged into his room, informing him about her presence in the Central Hospital, surrounded by cops and suffering from amnesia.

The silver-haired man unconsciously licked his lips in excitement. Aside from the annoying cops, the girl was now fair game. Now was his chance for him to get to her before the Boss found out and take her for himself. The thought of touching her, claiming her as his, and tainting the innocence of his savior made him tremble in giddiness.

Others might call it a sick obsession. Reino did not care in the slightest.

Someone knocked on his door, breaking his train of thought. "Who is it?" he grunted in irritation.

"It's me," a voice replied from the other side of the closed door; he recognized the voice as that of Shizuru, one of his subordinates. Reino could usually get along fine with the man, but unfortunately Shizuru had caught him at the wrong time. "Some intel just came."

"Things better be good," the pale man mumbled with a frown. His body still thrummed with the excitement of having successfully fooled the police force the day before, and he still did not want anything to bring down the thrill. "Is it from that special mole?"

"Yes, and sorry Reino, it's bad news. Miroku got arrested."

Reino's clucked his tongue in annoyance. "There goes my peaceful day."

* * *

Kuon could feel a huge headache coming as he sat with his arms crossed in front of a very defiant, long-haired blond. The guy even had the gall to rest his booted feet on the table as he leaned back on his chair, obscuring his face a little. It made the detective feel as if he was interrogating the soles of the boots instead.

To be honest, he did not want to be here. How he wished he could have the whole day off so he could rest at home and oversleep, or maybe spend the day with Kyoko. The thought of her brought a gentle smile across his tired face which was unfortunately turned into a frown by a certain whine from the irksome suspect in front of him.

"Can I go now?" Miroku asked as he absentmindedly inspected his nails. "I have other appointments."

"You think you can get out of this?" Kuon snarled. "The photo is enough evidence to put you in jail. In fact, why don't I do that now?"

Miroku straightened up at that. "That one picture doesn't prove anything. What if I was just conversing with a friend of mine? How was I supposed to know he was one of the traffickers?"

"After the spectacle he created last night? Sorry to burst your bubble, but this—" He waved the picture of Miroku and Reino standing together. "—was taken by accident during the chaotic shootout yesterday. If you hadn't known his identity before that, you should've known by then."

"That's bullshit!" Miroku slammed the table with his fists. "Nobody took any picture! I'm pretty sure I saw what was going on!"

"During all the panic?" the detective countered without missing any beat. "You were very calm. Why is that?"

Before Miroku could answer, Kuon did it for him. "Because you knew nobody would hurt you during the shootout, not even with any stray bullets. You were positioned away from the dining hall, and you knew what was happening."

Miroku shrugged. "Your point?"

"You did it so that you could stay calm and carefully observe everyone in the banquet hall. Any objection?"

Pregnant silence filled the interrogation room as Kuon let his deduction sink in for Miroku. "I got a message from my colleague from the forensic," he said. "That is, I quote, 'Tell me the way to defrost the cryogenically frozen people or god help me I'll slowly and painfully castrate you'. If I were you, I'd do as she says. She never leaves empty threats."

With that, he left the interrogation room with a smug smirk.

* * *

"This will take time," Marina told Shimona as she inspected the frozen bodies of Hiou and Kanae; the odd couple still stood as Aphrodite and Eros, adorned in all the god-like beauty and glory contrasting the sterile gloom of the medical examination room they were in. "We don't know how they did this step by step, so there's not much we can do without increasing the risk."

"My thoughts exactly," Shimona replied as she pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "And last I heard, the suspect we managed to capture is still tight-lipped."

"Interestingly, this girl is not branded," the older woman commented, gingerly touching Kanae's exposed chest with her gloved fingertips. "So we can assume that this boy is not branded as well. Was the purpose of freezing them simply to sell them as pricey art pieces? I wonder if it's because the brand will ruin the aesthetic."

That caught Shimona's interest. "Now that you mention it," the blonde hummed. "What did Ushio tell me… he said something about variety of purpose? Maybe what he was saying was that the buyer can choose what they want to do with the living art. Some people might want them to be kept frozen as accessories for their houses. But if they happen to need slaves, the buyer can defrost them anytime and brand the slaves with their personal mark."

"Which means the buyers from yesterday's auction are provided with instructions on how to defrost them," Marina concluded with a smile.

A glint of hope sparked in Shimona's emerald eyes. "Now if we can track anyone down that managed to buy something yesterday—"

Marina's smile turned into a demeaning smirk as she waved her newspaper. "I know where you guys can start from. That spoiled _bocchan_ never learns from his mistakes, apparently." And she showed the headline of the community art section to the younger woman.

There was Shotaro Fuwa standing proudly next to a statue of a fairy. She was dressed in an off-shoulder pink dress and a flower wreath on her head, which emphasized her light-colored wavy hair and fair skin. Her hands were folded in a prayer as she looked up with wide doe eyes, lifted thin eyebrows, and a small pout, looking like a tragic damsel in distress.

"Wow, she looks like such an airhead I bet the ones paying attention to her are only members of the dumb male population," Shimona said. After a light smack on her head courtesy of Marina, Shimona commented again, "You're right, the stupid _bocchan_ never learned. Hopefully we can track where he bought this from."

"No need for that," Marina showed Shimona her tablet. Displayed on it was the picture of the fairy, but in modern casual attire instead of the ethereal fairy get-up. "Michika Kawagoe, a small-time actress. And she was reported missing by her partner last month. Three actors who were both frozen and sold in the market, and one of them is the genius Hiou Uesugi? I guarantee this will explode when it reaches the media.

"So what we need to do now is bring this to Hizri. Then he can get the warrant, check that statue for any indication of life, and bring Fuwa to the precinct to be interrogated," she finished.

Shimona continued with a growing smile of her own, "And if we spread this case to the media and it indeed becomes big, he won't have any other way to shut us up, more so with Mayor Harufumi opposing illegal human trafficking. And if the statue is indeed a cryogenically frozen person, he surely knows how we can return the statues back to normal, and we'll get it from him."

"Let's do this!"

"Got it, Chief!"

And with that, Shimona and Marina went to see Kuon's office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta-read by [rsrdiall], who has so kindly reminded me that 'cryogenically frozen' is the term.


End file.
